Water – the source of life

“The quality of water determines the level of both the health of human beings and that of ecosystems.” – Aruwa Bendsen, Program Manager of the Freshwater Ecosystems Unit of the UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) stated in an interview with TEEB.

Water is a significant aspect for VAUDE, because the manufacturing of VAUDE products in many upstream processes requires water and produces wastewater (see "Waste and wastewater" and "Goal: reduce waste").

This holds true for the production at the company headquarters in Tettnang, but of course, also for the manufacturing of VAUDE products, and particularly all the needed materials in the extended supply chain.

Based on the company headquarters in Tettnang-Obereisenbach, our approach is efficient and successful. This has been confirmed by the annual EMAS and ISO14001 Audits.

For our company headquarters in Tettnang-Obereisenbach, we have exact data. In 2014, we consumed a total of 2,412 cubic meters of fresh water from the municipal water supply. This is 6 percent more than the previous year. The increase in consumption is, above all, due to the renovation work at the headquarters. Water-cooled saws were used to break through the walls.

At our company headquarters in Tettnang, water is used exclusively for sanitation and in the lab for waterproof testing and washing tests. It is discharged into the municipal sewage system. We do not need water in our production processes. Water consumption is recorded by our water utility and regularly assessed.

Fresh water consumption

The total water supply for our Tettnang-Obereisenbach headquarters is provided by the municipal water utility. Our drinking water comes from the groundwater aquifer from the Bodnegg district.

In the water protection area, rainfall amounts ensure adequate groundwater renewal. The natural cycle is not disturbed by groundwater extraction.

The groundwater is so well protected by natural means from environmental influences that it is possible to directly feed pumped water without treatment into our distribution network.

Since 2014 we collect and utilize rain water from a 20,000 litre tank, e.g. to flush the toilets. Only if the rain water tank falls empty, we use tap water.
At Tettnang-Oberweisenbach we do not recycle any water since we do not need any process water.

On the company´s premises we maintain two ponds to collection rain water, also for fire safety use. These have been developed to serve as wetlands habitat for toads and frogs and many insects. Also, many VAUDE colleagues love to have a picnic during work breaks there.