Water Consumed: Surface Water (OI8060)

This metric is intended to capture the volume of surface water used within the organization for any purpose, including but not limited to productive processes (for example, packaging and manufacturing), human consumption, and agricultural purposes.

Surface water occurs naturally on the Earth’s surface in the form of ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, icebergs, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams. For further details, see the IRIS+ glossary term. This metric applies to organizations sourcing their water directly from an above-ground water body rather than from a water service provider. This metric, as well as other metrics calculated using Water Withdrawn (OI0263) and Water Discharged (OI0386), can be used in conjunction with Water Type (OD7536) to describe water consumption in more detail.

For further guidance on water uses, see the Alliance for Water Efficiency (http://www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org).

In some contexts, this metric can serve as an indicator of whether the outcome being sought by an investor or organization is occurring (the WHAT dimension of impact). For more on the alignment of IRIS metrics to the five dimensions of impact, see IRIS+ and the Five Dimensions of Impact (https://iris.thegiin.org/document/iris-and-the-five-dimensions/). No single metric is sufficient to understand an impact; rather, metrics are selected as a set across all dimensions of impact. When possible, the selection of metrics to measure and describe the five dimensions should be based on best practice and evidence.