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Jan 04
2011
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In this interview with Dr. Neno Duplan, the CEO and founder of Locus Technologies , we discuss the current thinking and approach to water 
in today's business landscape. Locus, is a leading company in the environmental software space and they have been helping organizations track their water usage and quality and ensure regulatory compliance related to water for over a decade.
in today's business landscape. Locus, is a leading company in the environmental software space and they have been helping organizations track their water usage and quality and ensure regulatory compliance related to water for over a decade.When asked where water ranked in relation to carbon in the minds of business executives, Dr. Duplan replied "Water is Carbon". To clarify his point, he mentioned that 25% of all electricity usage in California is related to water - whether that be transportation, purification, movement, public water supply management or waste water treatment. That is a tremendously high number that the public is for the most part unaware of.
This led to a discussion about the current shockingly low cost of water (less than 1 cent per gallon, even in water scarce regions) and how it leads us to disregard this vital resource and consider it free. Dr. Duplan does not see any price increases on the horizon, but obviously a price on carbon would cause businesses to start looking hard at water and curtail overuse and contamination.
Currently, the primary focus on water from businesses comes from regulatory compliance issues specifically related to the Marine Protenction Act (1972), the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974), the Toxic Substance Control Act (`976), the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (1976), and the Clean Water Act (1977). Interestingly, approximately 90% of these regulations focus on water quality.
When asked where businesses focus their energies relative to water, Dr. Duplan made it clear that priority #1 for businesses, is water quantity.
When businesses start to look at water as a strategic issue, they generally look in the following areas:
- 1. Start with detailed usage tracking
- 2. Reduce quantity of water used
- 3. Improvement of water quality control - inputs and outputs
- Contamination management and compliance
- Suply chain optimization (for businesses that need consistent access to exceptionally pure water - semiconductor industry for example)
- Energy Management related to processing and cleanup
- Business Process Improvement
The real business opportunity exists the further companies move down this process. When it comes to water, organizations that are finding ROI are moving from simply collecting and reporting data needed for compliance, to using that vast amount of data to identify business processes that can be improved. This leads to lower costs, improved efficiencies and increased profits.
Listen to the whole interview