Water

Our commitment to reducing environmental impact includes being a good steward of a vital resource we all rely on – water. Accordingly, while our operations are not significantly water intensive, we make efforts to manage our water use, and simultaneously consider our indirect water consumption, including by helping our customers reduce their water use.

Managing Our Water Use and Addressing Water Risk

We manage water in accordance with all relevant regulations and focus on water conservation with corporate support for global data reporting and water risk management. Conservation efforts at a number of our operating companies also include setting goals for water efficiency as part of their ISO 14001 certifications.

Our Senior Vice President, Operations is responsible for managing our processes for internal reporting of water consumption. Working with operational and financial representatives from Dover's operating companies, as well as the Sustainability Steering Committee and corporate stakeholders, the Senior Vice President, Operations also coordinates actions to manage water use across our facilities worldwide.

Since our full water baseline was established in 2019, we have reduced our water consumption by 22% and our water withdrawal by 17%. We attribute a part of these reductions to water-efficient operations, including recycling water throughout our operations, harvesting rainwater and wastewater, and improving equipment efficiencies as well as COVID-related operational disruptions. In the future, we expect total water withdrawals to increase in some operating companies as our operations continue to grow.

Because water is necessary to operate our facilities and demand for water exceeds supply in some parts of the world, we are developing our understanding of the business risks associated with water. We have begun to assess risks related to water scarcity, water quality, current and future regulations that could affect the availability and pricing of water, and potential reputational concerns arising in connection with our water use and management using the World Resources Institute Aqueduct tool. In 2021 using this tool, we determined that 18% of Dover's facilities are located in areas considered to be in high or extremely high 'overall water stress.’ As with other sustainability-related risks, water risks are evaluated and integrated into our broader company-wide oversight of risk management as needed and are addressed in part by our ongoing conservation efforts.

Managing water at operating companies through ISO 14001

A number of our operating companies are certified to ISO 14001, which requires setting goals for resource efficiency, including water. For example, Markem-Imaje targets a 50% improvement in water consumption by 2030 from a 2019 baseline across the whole operating company. Markem-Imaje is building on a strong legacy of water performance, having reduced water consumption by 68% since 2010 as a result of improving manufacturing processes and managing water discharges. For example, its Keene location installed a closed-loop system that re-circulates cooling water for operations. Read more in the Markem-Imaje sustainability brochure, Sustainability in action.

Dover’s JK Group, a chemical company that produces water-based inks, exemplifies water use conservation. Water is the main raw material used in the company’s production plant. JK Group recently installed a new system to collect wastewater coming from the production plant and dilute it so that it may be reused for cleaning the plant’s piping and tanks. The new system helped reduce water per unit of production by 44% in 2021 over the prior year as a result of reusing production water for cleaning.  

Reducing Water Use Through Product Innovation

We also consider water-related risks across the value chain, particularly the value we can bring to our customers by developing products and solutions that help them reduce their water footprint.

For example, MS Printing Solutions, part of Dover Digital Printing, developed and offers the LaRio high speed single-pass digital textile printer. Described as any ink jet-based method of printing colorants onto fabric, digital textile printing simultaneously improves environmental sustainability and business profitability. Significantly, compared to traditional fabric printing methods, digital textile printing requires less water because fabric washing is minimal and there are no screens or printing rolls to clean. The LaRio single-pass digital textile printer is Green Certified with water use of only 2.67 L/kg of processed material – over 90% less than the 100 L/kg in traditional textile finishing. The process also reduces dye and chemical waste and lowers energy consumption. This digital green technology helps shorten textile printing production times from as much as 40 days for 30,000 linear meters to less than 12 hours which translates to improving production from 100 linear meters per hour to 75 linear meters per minute. MS Printing also launched the #transparentaswater initiative to demonstrate its commitment to water conservation.

Another example of our products supporting water conservation is Dover's Hydro Systems’ product line of proportioning, dosing and dispensing solutions that are used to accurately dilute and/or dispense concentrated cleaning chemicals so they can be safely and effectively used in commercial cleaning applications. The innovative EvoClean dispenser is the world’s first venturi (or vacuum) -based, water-powered dispenser for on-premise laundry applications. Unlike other laundry dispensers, EvoClean does not require squeeze tubes and drives dramatic reductions in maintenance costs. Its delivery performance is precise, and it will not under-dose chemicals. This gives laundries less downtime, less re-wash and more predictable, clean results with every wash. The EvoClean system uses 60% less water (3.7 gallons per load), because its eductor pump restricts flow.

Dover believes that sustainability-driven innovation presents a significant growth opportunity while contributing positively to conservation of an increasingly scarce resource in many geographies. For more information on our innovative and sustainable products and solutions, please visit our Innovation for Sustainable Products webpage. See our Reports and Disclosures page for our latest CDP Water response and more information about our water consumption and management.