AT&T Taps Leading Environmental Group to Address Water Efficiency

AT&T has embarked on ambitious plans to improve water efficiency across its operations. The company has partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund (known by its acronym EDF), a nonprofit whose "mission is to preserve the natural systems on which all life depends," to drastically increase the efficiency with which the company uses water in its operations.

Water scarcity looms as an increasingly serious threat as cities and populations grow while water tables around the world fall. According to the World Health Organization, water scarcity affects one in three people worldwide, who are forced to rely on unsafe drinking water while suffering exposure to diseases like cholera, typhoid fever and dysentery.

Seventy percent of the world's water is used for agriculture and irrigation, and global food prices are spiking as water tables around the world are increasingly depleted. For example, both the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides water to about 27 percent of U.S. irrigated farmland, and the Upper Ganges, which sustains farm irrigation in both Pakistan and India, are depleting at an alarming rate. According to the Washington Post, the Ogalla is dropping by as much as two feet per year, and the Upper Ganges would need over 50 times as much rain as it currently gets to meet area agricultural demand.

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Harry Stevens is a freelance reporter covering climate change, corporate social responsibility, social enterprise, and sustainable finance. Harry has contributed to several media outlets, including Justmeans, GreenBiz, SocialEarth, and Sustainablog. You can follow Harry on Twitter: @Harry_Stevens