Water and Wastewater

Water is critical for good health. More than 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water and nearly 10 percent of the global disease burden is a result of poor water supply, lack of sanitation and inadequate water management.¹ Water is also essential to Baxter’s business and to the patients that rely on the company’s products.

Reflecting the importance of water to Baxter’s operations, the company extended its water use goal from a 20 percent reduction by 2010 to a 35 percent reduction by 2015, both indexed to revenue and compared to 2005. Baxter also has committed to implement two projects by 2015 to help protect vulnerable watersheds and provide communities with enhanced access to clean water.

Water and other environmental issues are interconnected. For example, warmer temperatures caused by climate change are expected to decrease fresh water availability significantly, especially in water-scarce areas.² As temperatures increase, precipitation patterns can change and reduce water runoff and ultimately river flow from snow pack in mountain ranges, and rising sea levels may increase salt water intrusion and degradation in water aquifers near the ocean.

Global climate change and decreased water availability are expected to impact human health in other ways as well, such as increased malnutrition, diarrhea, cardio-respiratory and infectious diseases, and mortality from heat waves, floods and droughts.³

Water consumption, energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions are related within Baxter’s manufacturing operations. The production of highly purified water requires energy to operate water purification equipment such as reverse osmosis units and water distillation units. As water quality decreases, Baxter will need to use additional energy to produce the required quality of purified water for use in the company’s products. Thus, Baxter’s water conservation practices not only enable the company to use less water overall and decrease the need to purify and treat water, but also reduce energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions.

Baxter closely manages how it obtains, uses, treats, re-circulates and discharges water. In 2008, Baxter obtained about half of its water from on-site wells and half from municipal water distribution systems.

Water Usage

In 2008, Baxter's global operations used approximately 13.7 billion liters of water, the equivalent of filling 18 Olympic-sized swimming pools every day. The company used 7 percent less water in 2008 than in 2005 in absolute terms and 26 percent less indexed to revenue, exceeding Baxter’s 2010 water-reduction goal.

Baxter uses water in three main ways:

Process-related uses include cooling towers, chillers, steam boilers, sterilizers and water purification;
Use of purified water in the company’s solution products; and
Potable uses such as sinks, toilets, cafeterias and landscaping irrigation.

Facilities with water-intensive operations develop site-specific water efficiency initiatives and metrics. EHS personnel review performance to identify best practices for application at other locations.

Baxter decreased water consumption in 2008 through water recovery and reuse projects at several facilities:

China – Baxter’s Shanghai facility improved water efficiency during rinsing, cleaning and sanitization operations, helping to reduce water consumption by 8 percent compared to 2007;
Ireland – Baxter’s Castlebar facility optimized water usage for sterilizer cooling and implemented several water recycling projects that decreased water consumption by 11 percent compared to 2007;
Italy – Baxter’s Grosotto facility implemented a sterilizer water reuse project that helped reduce water consumption 14 percent compared to 2007; and
United States – Baxter’s Mountain Home, Arkansas, United States, facility used Lean value stream mapping to identify numerous water conservation opportunities that reduced water consumption by 13 percent compared to 2007.

In 2008, these four facilities alone decreased water consumption by 170,000 cubic meters.

Baxter identifies water usage reduction and water conservation projects in several ways. Due to the strong link between energy usage and water processing, optimization of water systems remains a key focus for the company’s facility energy assessments. Additionally, Baxter integrates Lean manufacturing principles and tools, such as value stream maps, with water management, to help facilities identify areas for additional conservation.

In 2009 Baxter began to expand its water conservation efforts beyond its operations. The company is using water conservation tools from World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Resources Institute and others to help identify and prioritize possible locations for future community water projects. Baxter also is exploring partnerships with various organizations to protect water in the most vulnerable areas.

Wastewater

Wastewater discharged from Baxter's production operations represents one of the company's most significant environmental compliance risks. In 2008, all but two of Baxter's 27 wastewater-related environmental incidents occurred at facilities that discharge to regional or municipal wastewater treatment systems that further process the water, rather than directly to surface waterways, such as rivers, streams or creeks.

To address wastewater compliance issues at these facilities and to anticipate potential issues at others, Baxter’s environmental engineering group performs wastewater risk evaluations and develops recommendations for facilities with elevated wastewater compliance risk. Based on the facilities’ compliance record and on the group’s recommendations, Baxter invested approximately $10 million in wastewater treatment upgrades at facilities in Lessines, Belgium, and Los Angeles, California, United States, in 2008. Additional investment is planned for facilities in Guangzhou, China, and Castlebar, Ireland, during 2009.

The group selects facilities for evaluation based on:

Noncompliance history;
Potential for noncompliance to result in environmental impact;
Facility wastewater treatment capacity and reliability;
Anticipated changes in production or the introduction of new products; and
Sufficiency of resources that support wastewater operations.

Since 2006, the group has reviewed nearly all of Baxter’s major manufacturing facilities.

Baxter-Operated Wastewater Treatment Systems

Approximately 20 percent of Baxter’s manufacturing operations treat wastewater on-site and discharge to a waterway. These facilities typically do not have access to regional or municipal wastewater-treatment systems. In 2008, these facilities treated 4.4 billion liters of wastewater, equivalent to 32 percent of Baxter's total water consumption.

Baxter uses the following indicators to evaluate wastewater quality at facilities that discharge directly into waterways:

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD);
Chemical oxygen demand (COD); and
Total suspended solids (TSS).

The combined treated effluent from these facilities contained substances that represent 30 metric tons of BOD₅, 137 metric tons of COD and 49 metric tons of TSS. This equals average concentrations of 7 mg/liter BOD₅, 31 mg/liter COD and 11 mg/liter TSS. These levels generally are regarded as indicators of adequately treated wastewater and are below typical regulatory discharge limits.

In general, Baxter does not have a history of wastewater exceedances at facilities that treat wastewater on-site and discharge to a waterway. However, during 2008 and into 2009, Baxter’s Sabiñánigo, Spain, facility experienced an operational upset with its wastewater treatment facility due to a power outage combined with high BOD loadings from product discards. The operational upset resulted in an exceedance of discharge limits. The facility is investigating necessary corrective and preventive actions to fully address this issue.

WATER POLLUTANTS¹
		2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Typical Acceptable Discharge Level
BOD₅ ²	Metric Tons	27	28	29	30	30	20
BOD₅ ²	mg/L	7	6	6	6	7	20
COD²	Metric Tons	110	116	126	139	137	60
COD²	mg/L	28	27	28	30	31	60
TSS²	Metric Tons	48	47	51	55	49	20
TSS²	mg/L	12	11	11	12	11	20
Total Direct Discharge	meters³	3,890,000	4,420,000	4,640,000	4,620,000	4,370,000

¹ Estimated total water pollutant levels for treated wastewater discharging directly into waterways.
² When actual performance data were not available, estimates were developed based on performance at similar facilities.

Wastewater and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients

Baxter takes seriously the concern about active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) entering the public water supply. For the most part, Baxter produces solutions whose principal ingredients include water, salts and simple sugars. However, Baxter does purchase and use some solution therapies and products for injection to treat critically ill patients that include pharmaceutical ingredients.

Baxter properly manages the APIs that it uses to ensure they are not released into the environment during manufacturing. Each Baxter facility determines the most effective and environmentally responsible method of protecting the public water supply and public health. For example, Baxter’s major research and development facility in North America has an ongoing program launched in 1989 to evaluate its solution products, including those containing APIs, for their removal in wastewater treatment systems. The company shares this information with Baxter facilities around the world.

Baxter has developed proprietary processes to remove, destroy or deactivate some compounds though not required to do so by law. All other compounds that cannot be managed this way or through traditional wastewater systems are destroyed by incineration or another environmentally responsible manner.

¹ Estimation for 2002, by the WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2004.
^{2, 3} The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report.