The latest issue of GoodBusiness, an online journal published by Georgia State University’s Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility, focuses on water – and how corporations can help manage that scarce resource.

Writers include Ciannat Howett, director of sustainability initiatives at Emory University; Don Cope, president and CEO of Dalton Utilities; Gary Black, president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council and Randy Childers, senior director of engineering for Hyatt Regency Atlanta and the Southern division of Hyatt Hotels Inc.

“It’s become such a pressing environmental issue that it has moved to the forefront for a lot of corporations,” said Steven Olson, director of the ethics center, which is part of Georgia State’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. “It’s really starting to show up as a huge cost issue.”

Dalton Utilities, which provides water and electricity for Georgia’s massive carpet industry, has worked with manufacturers to reduce water usage, Mr. Cope writes in GoodBusiness.

“In 1983, it took 21 1/4  gallons of water to produce one square yard of carpet,” he writes. “Today, it only takes 8 1/4 gallons per square yard, a savings of over 150 percent. “

Along with conservation, the utility has been locating new water sources, even venturing across state lines to do so.

“Our primary source for water is the Conasauga River, which is one of the most (if not the most), biologically diverse rivers in the country,” Mr. Cope writes. “There are many unique species in the Conasauga, and we have to be very conscious of helping to maintain their habitat. In fact, we perform a fish and mussel survey each year of the Conasauga to determine the health of the river.”

Anticipating that its water needs would eventually outstrip what the Conasuaga can provide, Dalton Utilities found another source.

“We have an ongoing contract with Eastside Utilities in Tennessee that allows Dalton Utilities to take water from the Tennessee River – largely due to portions of Whitfield County being in the Tennessee River Basin,” wrote Mr. Cope.

Georgia access to water in the Tennessee River has been controversial, stemming from a disputed border between Georgia and Tennessee. The Georgia General Assembly last year passed a resolution claiming that an 1818 surveyor’s mistake put the border 1.1 miles south of where it should have been. The resolution calls for moving the border north, allowing Georgia to tap into the Tennessee River.

“I don’t advocate moving the border of Georgia, “ Mr. Cope wrote in his GoodBusiness article. “But I do believe that regional water assets should be shared regionally if there is enough volume to do so. “

View GoodBusiness here. 

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