What is AWS Standard (Alliance for Water Stewardship)?
AWS Standard (Alliance for Water Stewardship) is a global, site-level framework for responsible water use. It guides a site to understand its water use and shared catchment challenges, then act on five outcomes: good water governance, sustainable water balance, good water quality, healthy important water-related areas, and safe water, sanitation and hygiene for all.
What it is
The AWS Standard is published by the Alliance for Water Stewardship, a membership organization. Here AWS refers to that alliance, not a cloud provider. The standard is built around steps: gather and understand, commit and plan, implement, evaluate, and communicate and disclose.
Sites can be certified against the standard by accredited conformity assessment bodies, at core or higher levels. Certification looks at the site's own water use and its engagement with others in the catchment.
Who it applies to / where it is used
The standard is used by industrial, agricultural, food and beverage, textile and mining sites, and increasingly by commercial and data center operators, anywhere a site depends on a shared water source.
How it is measured / what evidence it needs
Sites need to show they understand their water balance and its effect on the catchment.
- A site water balance covering sources, uses and discharges
- Water quality data for intake and discharge
- Identification of shared water challenges in the catchment
- A stewardship plan with targets and progress records
- Disclosure of performance to stakeholders
How Aqueduct helps
Aqueduct supplies water balance and quality data for the standard's core criteria. The site and its auditor handle certification.
- Site water balance through aQ WaterGuard, from intake to discharge
- Water quality sensor data trended alongside flow
- Leak, loss and reuse tracking against stewardship targets
- Exportable records through aQ Assurance for disclosure and audit