Criterion: Water Management and Stewardship
Documented water stewardship policy, baseline conditions, reduction targets, and action plans to prevent and mitigate risks related to Facility water use, consumption, and discharge.
Full Description
ENV02 Water Management and Stewardship
Standard Section: 7.2 Category: Environmental Scheme: Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP) Standard Version: 2.0 for Piloting (effective April 30, 2025)
Overview
Documented water stewardship policy, baseline conditions, reduction targets, and action plans to prevent and mitigate risks related to Facility water use, consumption, and discharge.
Requirements
The Facility shall:
- 7.2.1 Establish a documented policy that includes commitments to water stewardship. This shall include, where applicable, contributions to local watershed or water authority conservation initiatives, and assessment of operational water use and its localized impact in the water catchment and marine environments.
- 7.2.2 Obtain and operate in compliance with freshwater use and withdrawal authorizations where necessary based on applicable legislation.
- 7.2.3 Establish and document baseline conditions of water sources, water use, and discharges for the Facility's watershed that includes the biological, chemical, and physical conditions of surface waters and groundwaters within the Facility boundaries as well as those outside the boundaries that may be affected by Facility water use, consumption, and discharge.
- 7.2.4 Establish and document targets for water consumption reduction, water quality improvement, water efficiency, and water conservation. Conduct ongoing measurement and monitoring of metrics related to water quality and quantity relative to baseline conditions.
- 7.2.5 Establish a documented action plan, consistent with the mitigation hierarchy, and in consultation with affected stakeholders, to prevent and mitigate risks related to Facility water use, consumption, and discharge. This includes:
- 7.2.5.1 Action plan(s) to restore waterbody ecosystems or allocate resources for remediation to affected communities and/or ecosystems that are negatively impacted by Facility water use, consumption, and discharges, including compensation for lost productivity, damage to ecosystems, and other impacts, in cases where restoration is not possible.
- 7.2.5.2 Action plans(s) to identify opportunities to reduce freshwater use, assessment of alternatives to use of freshwater sources, and measures to ensure that Facility water use, consumption, and discharge, does not unduly restrict water availability and access for other water users and wildlife.
- 7.2.6 Conduct regular documented monitoring of water consumption, water quality, and water efficiency in relation to baseline conditions.
Source: RMI Facility Standard for Social, Environmental, OHS and Governance Risks, Version 2.0 for Piloting (April 2025), Section 7.2
Profiles using this criterion
Responsible Minerals Assurance Process
Conformity Alignment
Meets
Pass: Yes
Definition: "Facility has a documented water stewardship policy, holds all required freshwater use authorizations, has established baseline conditions for water sources and use, documented targets for water consumption reduction and quality improvement, implemented an action plan to prevent and mitigate water impacts including freshwater availability for other users, and conducts regular documented monitoring of water consumption and quality."
Partially Meets
Pass: No
Definition: "Water management system exists but is incomplete: e.g., policy exists but does not include stewardship commitments, freshwater authorizations are in place but baseline conditions are not documented, monitoring is conducted but targets have not been set, or action plan does not include measures to restore impacted waterbody ecosystems."
Remediation: 180 days
Does Not Meet
Pass: No
Definition: "No documented water stewardship policy, no freshwater use authorization where required by law, no baseline conditions established, no monitoring of water consumption or quality, or no action plan to prevent and mitigate water impacts."
Remediation: 90 days
Priority
Pass: No
Definition: "A Priority finding may be raised if facility water discharges result in severe contamination of freshwater bodies posing immediate risk to community health or ecosystems, in alignment with the severe environmental damage conditions in Annex I of the Operations Manual."
Remediation: 30 days
Not Applicable
Pass: Yes
Definition: "This criterion may be not applicable to facilities that do not use or discharge freshwater in their operations and are located in areas with no freshwater bodies. The facility must document the rationale with evidence."
Not Able To Assess
Pass: No
Definition: "The assessor was unable to access water use records, water quality monitoring data, discharge authorizations, or inspect water intake and discharge points."
Change Log
1.0.0 (2026-06-24)
Initial release.