Water conservation is particularly important in water-stressed regions of the world. The number of such regions is predicted to increase as a result of climate change. Using less water also helps to save the energy used to purify and pump water.
Our operations use relatively little water compared with other industries and we do not consider this one of our key environmental impacts. However, our operating companies do monitor and aim to reduce water use locally.
In 2007/08, we used 929 million litres of water. This is a slight decrease from the 995 million litres reported in 2006/07.