Water – the source of life

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

This not only applies to manufacturing at the company headquarters in Obereisenbach, but also to the manufacturing of VAUDE products – particularly all materials needed in the upstream supply chain.

We use the water from a 20,000 liter rainwater tank as service water, e.g. for toilet flushing. We only use fresh water if the rainwater tank is empty.

At our Obereisenbach headquarters, we do not recycle water since we do not need any process water.

At our company headquarters in Obereisenbach, water is used exclusively for sanitation and in the lab for waterproofing and washing tests. Even in the production facility, no water is needed for processing. Water consumption is recorded by our water utility and regularly assessed.

Water consumption has risen in the past two years. Firstly, we’ve been doing a lot of building at the headquarters: in 2015 the administration building was rebuilt, and in 2016 we built the new Manufaktur production facility. Secondly, on April 27, 2015 the previous production hall was struck by lightning, and a very large amount of water was needed to put out the fire.

The total water supply for our Obereisenbach headquarters is provided by the municipal water utility. The source of our drinking water is a groundwater aquifer from the Bodnegg District. 

In this water reserve, rainfall ensures adequate groundwater renewal. The natural cycle is not disturbed by groundwater extraction. 

In fact, 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.

We maintain two ponds on the company’s premises for rainwater collection as well as for fire safety use. These have been developed to serve as a wetlands habitat for toads, frogs and a wide diversity of insects. In addition, many VAUDE employees greatly enjoy having their work breaks there, and it’s a place where the children from our company childcare love to go exploring – a tadpole observation site for budding naturalists!