The Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard

The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard can help you to understand your water use and impacts, and to work collaboratively and transparently for sustainable water management within a catchment context. The standard has five steps: 1) gather & understand, 2) commit & plan, 3) implement, 4) evaluate, and 5) communicate & disclose. The AWS also provides a certification process.

The latest iteration of the standard, version 3.0, has been revised to improve practicality, utility, and value. This includes clearer minimum requirements; enhanced streamlining for cost-effective implementation at scale; better alignment with broader sustainability agendas, such as climate-related goals; and stronger integration with corporate-level reporting, such as tighter alignment with the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

In addition to the Standard, the AWS has produced comprehensive guidance to support persons responsible for implementing the Standard within their organization.