Water

Water usage is a crucial part of our operations and we recognize the value of this important resource. We are developing a strategic water management plan to help identify water reduction, recycling and efficiency opportunities.

We are dependent on water for many of our manufacturing processes and at the same time, we deeply understand how critical this natural resource is to human life and ecosystems. We therefore strive to conserve water across our operations and ensure that wastewater is properly treated prior to discharge to avoid degradation to the surrounding environment.

Although we do not currently have specific goals related to water use and discharge, we do monitor our use of this important natural resource. Our focus is on identifying water and wastewater streams that can be reused within our manufacturing operations. In 2016, the volume of water supplied to our facilities was 51.7 million cubic meters (MM m3), down 0.2% from 2015, which corresponds to a 1.2% reduction on an intensity basis. Our wastewater discharge totaled 39.9 MM m3, down 7.6% from 2015 and an intensity increase of 6.3%. We did see reductions at our specialty fluid facility in Lac Du Bonnet, Canada, as a result of a reduction in mining activities. We also have several carbon black facilities that capture and reuse wastewater, including Cartagena, Colombia; Maua, Brazil; and Xingtai, China that successfully capture and reuse 100% of their wastewater onsite. We are in the final design phase at our facility in Franklin, Louisiana, USA to implement a project for wastewater capture and reuse. We recognize the need for reducing our demand for water and will continue to track changing water supply conditions and regulatory programs.