About the Alliance for Water Stewardship
AWS is recognised as a global leader in championing credible water stewardship as a collective, inclusive approach to protecting a resource that we do not own but that we all depend on.
Water is critical to all life on earth. It is the foundation of human health and ecosystems, and vital for growing the food we eat and making the products we use. We need water stewardship to ensure our world continues to have access to this invaluable resource.
Water stewardship enables water users to work together towards common goals for sustainable water management and shared water security. Good water stewardship recognises the need for collective responses to the complex challenges facing the water resources we all rely upon. Companies that embrace water stewardship shift their focus beyond their own sites to the wider water context, taking a long-term view to protect business continuity and ensure that supply chains are resilient to climate-related impacts.
Our vision is a water-secure world that enables people, culture, business and nature to prosper, now and in the future.
Our mission is to ignite and nurture global and local leadership in credible water stewardship that recognises and secures the social, cultural, environmental and economic value of freshwater.
To enact our mission and make our vision a reality, AWS has developed a strategy through to 2030. This strategy is guided by three primary goals: influence, inclusion and impact.
We aim to achieve the following strategic outcomes:
We support our members to use water in ways that are socially and culturally equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial. As a global, multi-stakeholder collaborative alliance, we now have over 200 members from the public sector, private sector and civil society, all working together to ensure the sustainability of local water resources.
The AWS Standard is a framework that helps water users understand their own water use and how it impacts those around them. The AWS Standard can be used by any company, in any industry around the world that wants to work collaboratively and transparently to improve their water performance and contribute to wider water sustainability goals.
The AWS Standard follows a five-step process focusing on water governance, sustainable water balance, water quality, the healthy status of important water-related areas, and access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for all.
One of AWS’s primary roles is to lead the way on water stewardship. We do this by convening multi-stakeholder dialogues to advance water stewardship globally. Our flagship event, the AWS Global Water Stewardship Forum, brings together AWS Members and other key stakeholders to share best practice and forge new directions through dialogue and partnerships.
AWS is ISEAL Code Compliant. Our system has been independently evaluated against ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice– a globally recognised framework for effective, credible sustainability systems.
AWS’s Conformity Assessment Body – Water Stewardship Assurance Services (WSAS) – is currently working to achieve accreditation to ISO 17065, the globally recognised standard for certification bodies.
The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) was established in 2009 by leading water organisations, including the United Nations, international NGOs and research institutes, in response to the global water challenge. Since then, our system has grown and evolved to be a leading membership network and the gold standard for credible water stewardship.
Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) founded
International Standard Development Committee formed
Launch of AWS Standard V1.0
First sites are certified to the AWS Standard
AWS incorporated as a membership-based association
First AWS Global Water Stewardship Forum
AWS Technical Committee formed
Launch of AWS Standard V2.0
Water Stewardship Assurance Services (WSAS) established
AWS Representative Office opened in Shanghai, China
AWS is committed to understanding the impacts of the AWS Standard System. We have developed a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system to gather data on the long-term direct or indirect, positive and negative, and intended and unintended, impacts of our system on the environment, society, cultures and the economy.
The AWS Research Agenda guides research about the AWS System. Our intention is to foster collaboration among a diverse group of stakeholders who are interested in understanding the impacts of the AWS System.
AWS Members support the sustainability of local water resources by adopting and/ or promoting the International Water Stewardship Standard (or AWS Standard). This is a framework that helps water users understand their own water use and how it impacts those around them. The AWS Standard can be used by any company, in any industry around the world that wants to work collaboratively and transparently to improve their water performance and contribute to wider water sustainability goals.
Join AWS and become part of a community that is shaping the future of our precious shared water resources.