Water

THE WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE states that one quarter of the global population lives in countries facing extremely high water stress, where more than 80% of the available supply is withdrawn every year by irrigated agriculture, industries and municipalities alone. At the same time global water demand will increase by about 55% as water use increases, especially in manufacturing (+400%) but also in domestic use (+130%)  OECD. NORMA Group recognized these developments at an early stage and has made establishing a global position in water management a strategic priority. Most predominantly, NORMA Group’s water management product offering includes drip irrigation systems that reduce water consumption significantly compared to sprinkler irrigation and hand watering, as well as stormwater management solutions that protect properties from water damage and increasingly ensure that stormwater runoff is managed sustainably.

NORMA Group’s water management business is managed in its global ‘Water Management’ organization. It currently comprises NORMA Group’s US subsidiary NDS in the Americas and growing organizations in the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. The regional businesses collaborate on global initiatives and are coordinated by the president for Water Management and his team. The strategy and organization for Water Management were further strengthened.

Driven by continued growth in both brick and mortar and online channels, as well as unprecedented global supply chain disruptions, the company has significantly invested in its Water Management organization, capacity and digital capabilities.

With its worldwide presence, NORMA Group is also represented in regions with a medium to high risk of water scarcity (according to the  AQUEDUCT methodology). Against this backdrop, NORMA Group also has a special responsibility to handle this resource carefully in its own production.

For years, NORMA Group has been working to continuously reduce the use of water in its own production processes. In its environmental strategy, NORMA Group addresses both the water consumption at its manufacturing sites and along the value chain. For its own sites, NORMA Group has set a target of a 2.0% efficiency increase for 2023.  CR TARGETS 

NORMA Group focuses on its manufacturing sites as a framework for data collection and targets because water consumption at its administrative and distribution sites plays only a minor role due to significantly lower consumption levels. The control of water consumption follows the structure and responsibilities of the  ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS.

NORMA Group’s water is mainly sourced from municipal water supplies or other public or private water utilities and – at some locations – from ground and surface water. It is used to a large extent for cooling processes within production. In 2022, the water consumption of NORMA Group’s production totaled 163,680 cubic meters. This translates into an 1.9% increase in water consumption (2021: 160,586 cubic meters). The increase of water consumption is mainly due to the new plant Guangzhou in China. Specific water consumption sank by 10.5% to 131.6 liters per EUR thousand of revenues (2021: 147.1 liters per EUR thousand of revenues). This decrease is on the one hand due to the higher increase in sales revenue compared with the increase in absolute water consumption. On the other hand it is due to specific measures that were implemented, like the installation of water meters to monitor water consumption and leakage, as well as specific water reuse measures. 

The implementation of ISO 14001 at NORMA Group also covers the handling of wastewater. The vast majority of wastewater at NORMA Group sites is discharged to municipal wastewater systems or local sewage treatment plants.