Conserving Water

Americas

United States

In 2007, the Southeast region of the U.S. suffered a severe drought. To address the drought, our building experts were able to implement technologies to help our Company reduce water consumption. Between November and December 2007, we retrofitted 171 stores and Sam's Club facilities with highefficiency plumbing fixtures, such as toilets, urinals and sink faucets.

Due to the success of this retrofit, in 2008 we decided to install these high-efficiency fixtures in all of our new stores, expansions, takeovers and bathroom remodeling projects. In addition to high-efficiency plumbing fixtures, we also conducted audits on the amount of water consumed by landscaping. A few stores in the Southeast were converted from spray irrigation to subterranean drip irrigation systems, and native, drought-tolerant plants were used in landscaping. This effort proved to be very successful, and starting in April 2008, all of our new building designs began specifying the use of native plants and water-conserving irrigation systems.

Mexico

Wal-Mart de Mexico committed to reducing water consumption in its stores by 20 percent by 2013 using a 2008 baseline. They plan to recover and reuse all of the water in their facilities by integrating water-saving technologies into their stores and by building wastewater treatment plants. Currently, Wal-Mart de Mexico has built 338 wastewater treatment plants to minimize their on-site water use. The treatment plants have enabled them to reuse more than 340 million gallons of water. Additionally, Wal-Mart de Mexico is integrating water-saving fixtures throughout its stores and collecting rainwater to replenish groundwater levels. Wal-Mart de Mexico has reduced water use by 3.57 percent so far, which was calculated by dividing cubic meters of water used by square meters of building constructed.

Argentina

Argentina is beginning to integrate wastewater treatment plants into some of its energy-efficient stores. The water is processed on-site in these Argentinean stores and is used to irrigate landscaping.

Asia

China

Wal-Mart China has set a goal to reduce water use by 50 percent by 2010 with 2005 as a baseline. Wal-Mart China is making progress towards this goal and has reduced water use by more than 35 percent to date.