Case study - Yarra Valley Water
- To provide water and sewerage services in an environmentally sustainable way – within the carrying capacity of nature.
- Establish incremental targets to move towards a sustainable system.
Summary
Yarra Valley Water (YVW) exists to provide water and sewerage services that contribute to the health and well being of its customers and the environment. With this goal in mind, YVW has over the last three years embarked on a journey towards environmental sustainability across every facet of its operations and culture.
"Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides us with the environmental impacts of an option. It is particularly valuable because as we identify the major environmental impacts, it allows us to explore ways to reduce
these," Francis Pamminger, Strategic Water Service Planner, Strategy and Communications Group at YVW.
Company Overview
YVW was established in 1995 to provide water and sewerage services to 1.5 million people in the Yarra catchment area of Melbourne. Owned by the Victorian Government, YVW operates commercially under a Board of Directors with an Operating Licence issued under the Water Industry Act 1994. Covering an area of approximately 4,034 square kilometres of Melbourne's northern and eastern suburbs, YVW is responsible for maintaining 8,643 kilometres of water mains and 8,207 kilometres of sewerage mains.
YVW's strategic intent is to strive to lead the global water industry in serving the customer and the environment, supported by a high performing business culture and continuously improving its efficiency.
"Completing LCAs helps us to focus the business on the biggest environmental gains."
"LCA provides a tool to very effectively measure the impacts of our decisions – and from that provides us with the points of leverage to be innovative, to improve our products so that they are more sustainable."
Francis Pamminger Yarra Valley Water
Life Cycle Management (LCM): How it became an integral part of YVW's business strategy
"We recognise that both the well-being of our community and the strength of our business depend on the health of the environment – sustainability is fundamental to our business success" explains Francis
Pamminger.
"Back in 2002, we asked ourselves "so what do we mean when we say sustainability"?...it is easy to pay it lip service, and yet another challenge to live and breathe it, and measure progress. We adopted The Natural Step sustainability principles to help us build a structure around sustainability, and set aspirational goals and targets.
"The Natural Step has enabled us to understand our environmental impact with scientific rigour, and provide us with information to target our efforts on our biggest impacts. This is supported by our Environmental Strategy which guides us in our decision making processes, helping us to understand where we are now, where we want to be and what might lie in between," says Francis.
What YVW have done
Understanding its impact and setting targets
YVW understands that setting quantifiable targets is critical to delivering on its environmental sustainability strategy. The first step in setting these targets was for YVW to understand its current impact on the environment, and to obtain these measures through life cycle tools such as
LCAs and Ecological Footprint Analysis.
YVW has identified that its major environmental impacts arise from greenhouse gas emissions, water extraction and waste production. To provide its services within the carrying capacity of nature it has committed to:
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to below 10,500 tonnes CO2-e by 2008, which is 50% of its 1990 total.
- Reduce average water consumption to below 306 litres per person per day by 2010, which is 80% of its 1990's total.
- Reduce the amount of waste to landfill to below 10% of the total waste by 2010.
- Establish quantifiable targets for nutrients discharged from its sewage treatment plants by 2006.
Incorporating sustainability into YVW's decision making framework
"Whilst The Natural Step provides the principles to define a sustainable end point, LCA provides the analytical tool to assess environmental impacts of alternative options. It signals us to the most sustainable business decisions and allows us to weigh up different options. Most importantly, it challenges the business to innovate so that we come up with more sustainable solutions," explains Francis Pamminger.
LCM is now becoming integrated into the day-to-day activities of the business, and influences decisions made at all levels of the organisation. Over 20 people have received detailed training on LCA software. This has provided the skills and resources for staff to conduct LCAs on options for projects such as the design and delivery of sewage and servicing options. The LCAs are then used as part of the business decision making processes, along side other business assessment tools such as net present value assessments.
"Essentially, what LCA has done for us is reduce the "reckon" factor. It's less of an educated guess for us now, as we have the facts to support our decisions," explains Stephen Sonnenberg, Manager Growth Planning, Service Enhancement Sewerage Asset Services.
People driving change
Sustainability is very much viewed as a journey for YVW, with an ongoing commitment to fostering internal cultural change. The business supports innovation and integrates sustainability into everyday business practices. Staff are encouraged to think before they make a decision, for example "is there a better way, a way that will reduce energy, water use or waste?" Communication with staff, presentations and day-to-day promotion help motivate and inspire staff, and ensure a personal stake in the organisation’s sustainability targets.
Establishing monitoring and reporting systems
YVW has integrated its key sustainability targets into yearly Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) using a 'Balanced Scorecard' approach to link business and environmental outcomes with strategic objectives. The business plan itemises sustainability activities, responsibilities and timeframes. One key person is accountable for addressing each environmental KPI, and they work with a further group from across the business to develop a strategy of how this will be achieved.
Overcoming challenges
YVW believes it can successfully meet the challenges of sustainability by using:
- Partnerships
- Technology
- Learning through ongoing projects
Key Benefits
YVW have experienced the following benefits from adopting a LCM approach to their business.
- A truly integrated approach to sustainability that extends across the business and is well defined into the KPIs of the business.
- The ability to effectively measure and quantify environmental impact of business decisions through LCM.
- Effective and simple business tools to ensure that management can make sustainability a real part of day-to-day decision making processes.
- The ability to establish targets for the business to move towards a more sustainable system that are shared with all stakeholders
- Increased staff commitment to implementing sustainability.
Some challenges along the journey
Sphere of influence: YVW has estimated that 80 percent of the environmental impact of its services is outside the direct control of the organisation as it is the customer interface of the provision of water and sewerage service. The water harvesting, treatment, and conveyance, together with sewage treatment and major transfer to these sites is undertaken by the wholesaler. As such, building partnerships and increasing the dialogue with suppliers both upstream and downstream the supply chain is an imperative for YVW.
Time: It takes many years to change an infrastructure/asset base that has a replacement rate of about one percent per annum.
Interdependency: YVW needs to work holistically, so that improving one part of the environment does not adversely affect another.
Integration into the business: YVW has now completed four LCAs within the business. They include assessing the environmental impact of using rainwater tanks in an urban system, pump selection, deciding between gravity and pressure sewers in a backlog area, and water and sewerage servicing for both Greenfield sites and a principle activity centre. Further integration into the business will continue to be a focus for YVW. Developing internal capability in conducting LCAs has been a key strategy to progress along this pathway.
