The Global Water Center, home to The Water Council and Alliance for Water Stewardship-North America, will become the first office building in the world to publicly commit to implementation of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) International Water Stewardship Standard. The AWS Standard has been implemented at a number of industrial and agricultural sites globally with many working toward third-party certification in 2016. The Global Water Center aims to pave the way for other commercial buildings to consider implementation of the AWS Standard.
The Water Council, official North American headquarters for AWS, secured a two-year grant from the Fund for Lake Michigan to assist with the implementation. The process will help to identify water risks and opportunities the Global Water Center may face from conditions in the Menomonee River watershed as well as ensure the building optimizes its water-use to world-class standards. Dylan Waldhuetter, Graduate Student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences, will manage and oversee the implementation process. Estimated completion of the implementation process is expected in 2017.