Ecolab’s Monterrey, Mexico, Plant

As a global leader in water solutions and services, Ecolab remains dedicated to creating a more water-secure future through smart water management, conservation and stewardship. By 2030 we plan to continue to achieve a Net Positive Water Impact through:

• Reducing, recycling and replenishing water at operational sites. We aim to reduce water impact by 40% per unit production across our enterprise from a 2018 base year.
• Protecting local watersheds by working to restore greater than 50% of our absolute water withdrawal volume at high-risk sites.
• Delivering outcomes through the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard by achieving AWS certification for Ecolab manufacturing sites located in high-risk watersheds.

Ecolab's manufacturing facility located in the city of Apodaca, just outside of Monterrey in the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, is a key contributor to these goals. The Monterrey site is a blend plant dedicated to the production of industrial chemical solutions for detergents, disinfectants and other cleaners.

Ecolab's Monterrey site primarily utilizes municipal water sourced from the Rodrigo Gómez la Boca, Cerro Prieto and El Cuchillo dams, which ultimately obtain water from the PesquerÃa River Basin. Domestic and industrial effluents are treated at the plant and discharged into the municipal water system, which provides additional treatment before discharging into the PesquerÃa River.

The Monterrey site was identified as a priority location to pursue AWS certification, enhance the site's smart water management approach, and implement innovative technologies to advance enterprise water goals.

To contribute to Ecolab's enterprise water goals, the local team's objective is to reduce annual water use per ton of product by 40% from 2018 to 2030. The following projects help improve the facility's water balance and have been implemented to reduce overall water use:

• Installation of a rainwater collection and filtration system to help reduce water consumption from municipal sources
• Recovery and reuse of osmosis rejection water
• Recovery of water from air conditioning units
• Improvement of the plant's wastewater treatment capacity for advanced water recycle and reuse applications
• Scheduling batches of identical or compatible products in the same tank to reduce tank washouts
• Installing a Clean-In-Place (CIP) system, automating and standardizing tank washouts, and reducing over-washing of tanks

The improvements made at the Monterrey site have proved to be a helpful step forward for enhancing the site's operations and advancing Ecolab's sustainability goals.