Air Products Celebrates World Water Day

Water is essential to life -- from hydration to irrigation to the manufacturing of goods that people use every day. In celebration of this critical resource, Air Products (NYSE:APD) is recognizing today’s International World Water Day to support awareness of the importance of water to our world, and to note the company’s offerings that enable clean water. 

According to the United States (U.S.) Geological Survey, each American uses 80-100 gallons of water every day. We also consume water through the products we buy. For example, did you know that it takes (source: U.S. EPA): 

• 2.6 gallons of water to make one sheet of paper; 
• 6.3 gallons of water to make 17 ounces of plastic; 
• 924 gallons of water to produce 2.2 pounds of rice; 
• 2,641 gallons of water to make a pair of jeans;
• and 39,090 gallons of water to manufacture a new car.

Across the U.S. and the world, communities are facing water supply challenges due to increasing demand, drought, depletion and contamination. For nearly 40 years, Air Products has been providing its customers sustainable product solutions for treating water and wastewater. The company offers equipment and services -- marketed under the Halia® trade name -- for a variety of applications, including wastewater disinfection for reuse purposes, drinking water treatment and purification. 

“We have product offerings to help customers clean water, and at the same time we are striving to conserve this vital resource. We have set environmental sustainability goals to reduce water consumption in our operations and continue to identify ways to optimize water use, including recycling and reuse,” said Seifi Ghasemi, chairman, president and chief executive officer at Air Products. Ghasemi added that against Air Products’ publicly-stated 2020 water conservation goal, the company has already saved 950 million gallons of water since 2015.

Additionally, in support of company water conservation efforts, Air Products’ facilities in Southern California have proactively developed a way to free-up a substantial amount of drinking water by implementing water saving initiatives. These water conservations efforts in this drought-challenged area included installing systems for the use of recovered and recycled water at the company’s three largest manufacturing facilities. The combined impact at these three plants of reduced freshwater use resulted in a decrease of over 190 million gallons per year of potable water consumption, plus the secondary benefit of the reduced wastewater discharge. The millions of gallons of water saved is equal to providing one-half gallon of drinking water per day for a year for over one million people; could meet the annual supply of drinking water for nearly 600 four-person households; or could fill approximately 300 Olympic-sized pools with water.

To learn more about how Air Products contributes to the sustainable management of our water resources, please visit www.airproducts.com/Halia.

This annual World Water Day observance was introduced at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development to promote awareness of the importance of sustainable management of freshwater resources around the globe. The 2018 theme, “Nature for Water,” explores how people can use nature to overcome the water challenges we face today.