90 percent of the water consumption linked to a product is generated at the beginning of supply chains — stages that not all companies know how to monitor.
We know well that water is a finite resource. Of the 1.4 billion cubic kilometres of water present on our Planet, only 2.5 percent is fresh water; and of that, more than 99 percent is inaccessible to humans because it is locked in ice or lies too deep underground. To quench our thirst, and for any economic activity, we can rely only on lakes, dams, reservoirs and surface aquifers. Yet 70 percent of major aquifers show a long-term decline, and 40 percent of irrigation water is drawn from aquifers that are progressively being depleted. Water, too, is therefore becoming a variable that companies must incorporate into their decisions, involving their supply chains. But this awareness is still only partially built.
Italy is experiencing first-hand the problem of pressure on water resources. Istat reports that in 2022, 1,492 entities withdrew 9.14 billion cubic metres of water for drinking purposes, an average of 424 litres per day per inhabitant. This figure includes both the water that comes out of household taps and the water used by small businesses, hotels, services, shops, public facilities such as schools and hospitals, and agricultural and industrial activities directly connected to the public network.
For more than twenty years, Italy has ranked first in the European Union in the absolute quantity of fresh water withdrawn for drinking purposes from surface and groundwater bodies. Contributing to this negative record is the fact that a very significant share of the water fed into the network — as much as 42.4% — is lost during distribution. That amounts to 3.4 billion cubic metres per year: enough to meet the water needs of three quarters of the Italian population.
On top of direct withdrawals comes the dimension of the water footprint, which also includes water "embedded" in supply chains — that is, the water used across all phases of the production of goods and services, often beyond national borders. From this perspective, Italy is the most water-hungry country in Europe, consuming approximately 130 billion cubic metres per year, compared to an average of just 30 billion cubic metres per year for Europe (EU27 + United Kingdom); this emerges from the White Paper Valore Acqua 2026, published by Teha on 18 March.
The fact that water is a finite resource represents a vulnerability factor for businesses. Not only because of the direct water requirements of production processes, but because of the very structure of global supply chains, which distribute risk along value chains that are often opaque and difficult to control.
The most up-to-date picture comes from a report published by CDP, based on the annual water security questionnaire submitted in 2023 to 3,163 large companies with revenues exceeding 250 million euros/dollars, at the request of investors. Of these 3,163 companies, 623 declared significant water risks along their supply chain, with a total potential impact of 77 billion dollars. On average, that translates to approximately 124 million dollars per company. Of this, nearly 7 billion dollars is considered at immediate risk, linked to events already under way such as droughts, floods or water quality issues.
The report also highlights how risks are not only physical, but also regulatory, reputational and market-related. Restrictions on water use, rising costs, conflicts with local communities or environmental damage can translate into loss of value, operational disruptions and impacts on brand reputation. The distribution of these risks varies from sector to sector, but their economic weight is already significant today, as shown by aggregate estimates of financial impacts.
The core issue is that risk is concentrated outside the company's own perimeter. According to CDP, the early stages of the value chain can account for up to 90 percent of the total water use associated with a product. This means that vulnerability depends not so much on direct consumption, but on where suppliers are located and what practices they adopt.
It is no coincidence that 1,542 companies — half of those surveyed — declared that they involve their supply chain in managing water risks, for example by introducing water-related requirements in contracts, collecting data, launching awareness-raising activities on the topic and collaborating to develop innovative solutions.
This effort pays off: companies that include suppliers in their risk analyses are seven times more likely to identify critical issues related to water. Awareness, however, is still only partially built. This is demonstrated by the fact that 894 companies, equal to 28% of the sample, do not involve their supply chain in water risk management and do not plan to do so in the next two years.