According to Mckinzey and Company and other sources, a 40% shortfall in freshwater resources is predicted by 2030, but climate change is destabilizing water supplies in many aspects of our society. In 2021, Taiwan, home to the world’s leading foundry makers had its production activities disrupted, causing a serious supply and demand imbalance in the global semiconductor industry and also endured its worst drought in 100 years. Some 100,000 tons of water is used daily for semiconductor production, and the drought made it difficult for semiconductor manufacturers to secure enough water. In South Korea, there were major floods nationwide in 2020, and in 2022, Gwangju and Jeonnam area suffered their worst droughts in 50 years, endangering people’s lives and industrial stability. The United Nations and the rest of the global community have recognized water crisis as an existential threat to corporations and urged them to fulfill their social responsibility and invest responsibly for water supply and pollution prevention. In this context, global corporations are moving briskly to be water positive and respond to water crisis.
Being water positive means more than just saving water. A water-positive business is one that replenishes more water into water sources than it extracts. Being water positive also translates to increasing access to clean water for all people by managing water resources sustainably.

In the face of growing population, urban development and industrialization, global water demand is rising 1% each year. High-tech industries like semiconductors and secondary batteries continue to demand large volumes of water, while the water supply capacity of existing dams is shrinking due to slow progress in the development of new water resources, outdated water resources facilities, and increasing water evaporation caused by climate change. These changes have triggered greater efforts on the part of corporations to cope with water crisis by getting actively involved in water resources management, which has ascended to the public domain, for the sake of becoming water positive. Major global corporations taking specific actions to be water positive include global IT giants like Google and Apple, food and beverage companies like PepsiCo and the consumer goods manufacturer P&G. These companies are employing the latest technology and adopting various ways to reduce their water use, including reusing rainwater and wastewater. They are working with stakeholders to manage water responsibly and devote their own efforts to deal with water crisis resulting from climate change and improve their water use efficiency. On the domestic front, Korean corporations are also becoming increasingly aware of water risk due to climate change and taking meaningful actions to become water positive, and some large corporations are setting internal goals and working to accelerate water reuse and achieve greater water recovery.

As one of the world’s leading public water management companies, K-water is working to create a safe water environment by expanding new infrastructure and shifting to a digital water management system in its effort to tackle climate change. K-water plans to increase its water storage by 20% by 2030 by connecting water sources and developing alternative water resources.
In particular, K-water and Samsung Electronics are partnering up to find ways to reuse effluents discharged municipal sewage treatment plants at Samsung’s semiconductor plants. In 2022, Samsung Electronics has declared it would recover 100% of its global water use and is expected to secure some 474,000 tons a day or 173 million tons a year, under this joint effort.
Since the concept of being water positive is still in its infancy in South Korea, the volumes of water use, discharge and recovery, the criteria for determining these amounts and certification rules have yet to be widely instituted and stipulated. K-water is also collaborating with the government, municipalities, and corporations to actively embrace the global initiative. The Ministry of Environment and K-water have already signed an agreement on responses to climate change and water crisis with Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, LG Electronics, POSCO, Naver and CDP Korea. Under the agreement, K-water will identify public-private cooperation tasks for sustainable water management and secure the enforcement authority by forming a high-level council. Water is a common resource for the public and also a common responsibility for all of us to maintain and preserve water sustainability. K-water will use all its expertise and technology to cope with climate change and tackle the water crisis. Furthermore, it will work closely with the government, municipalities, corporations and civic groups to carry out water resources restoration projects and assume a leading role to adopt and implement global water initiatives.