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The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) formed in July 2011 the governing body of the Water Roundtable – the International Standard Development Committee, or ISDC – which made public its first draft of the International Water Stewardship Standard in March 2012, during the 6th World Water Forum. To create the draft standards, the ISDC used thinking from innovative regional water stewardship work developed by Water Stewardship Australia (WSA) and the European Water Partnership (EWP). By early 2012, this draft will go out to new and existing regional initiatives for discussion and testing.

Outlined below is an overview of efforts over the past three years and highlights some of the key activities:

• 2008 – Formation of the AWS by initial members
• 2009 – Expansion of AWS Board, incorporation of AWS Inc., secondment of AWS staff
• 2010 – Hiring of staff, Water Roundtable process development, field testing of piloting methodology, launch of Water Roundtable
• July 2011 – AWS announced the hiring of its executive director, Adrian Sym.
• July 2011 – Formation and meeting of the ISDC
• March 2012 – AWS releases its first draft of the International Water Stewardship Standard
• April-June 2012 – AWS holds meetings in Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon, and Toronto, Ontario, to seek input regarding the draft standards

AWS in North America

With support from The Nature Conservancy and the Milwaukee Water Council, the AWS North American Regional Initiative (NARI) was launched in February 2011 to engage stakeholders from the U.S. and Canada to advance water stewardship at the regional level and to encourage them to provide input as the standard is developed. Once a draft international standard is released in early 2012, pilot testing will take place throughout North America and around the globe.

AWS: Guided by Great Leaders

Participation in AWS work is open to all, and stakeholder engagement will be at the root of the design, development and implementation of the world’s first global water stewardship program.

Involved in the effort to create the AWS to date are:

• The Nature Conservancy
• Carbon Disclosure Project
• European Water Partnership
• International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
• The Pacific Institute
• The United Nation’s Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate
• Water Environment Federation
• Water Stewardship Australia
• Water Witness International
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

AWS Board of Directors (as of April 2011)

• Adrian Sym, Executive Director
• Mark Gough (Reed Elsevier, on behalf of CEO Water Mandate)
• Nick Hepworth (Water Witness International)
• Karin Krchnak (The Nature Conservancy)
• Jonathan Lautze (IWMI)
• Jason Morrison (Pacific Institute)
• Marcus Norton (Carbon Disclosure Project)
• Matt Ries (Water Environment Federation)
• Michael Spencer (Water Stewardship Australia)
• Christopher Williams (WWF-US)
• Sabine von Wiren-Lehr (European Water Partnership)

Funding

To date, funds and technical support for AWS have come from the following institutions and corporations:

• A.O. Smith
• Alcoa Foundation
• American Standard
• Badger Meter
• Bucyrus International
• Carbon Disclosure Project
• CEO Water Mandate (part of the UN Global Compact)
• Constellation Energy
• Diversey
• European Water Partnership
• FEMSA Foundation
• Fundacion Chile
• GIZ
• ICCO
• International Water Management Institute
• Marks & Spencer
• MillerCoors
• Milwaukee Water Council
• Nalco
• Nalco Foundation
• The Nature Conservancy
• The Pacific Institute
• Quad/Graphics
• Rio Tinto
• Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
• Veolia Water North America
• Water Center for Latin America and the Caribbean
• Water Environment Federation
• Water Stewardship Australia
• Water Witness International
• World Wildlife Fund 

Visit the Alliance for Water Stewardship website here.