IMPSF107 – Promote efficient water usage in a food environment

Overview 

This standard covers the skills and knowledge needed to develop policies and guidelines to support the efficient use of water in food manufacture or supply. It includes the skills required to promote efficient water usage in a food environment.

This standard is for you if you work in food and drink operations and your job requires you to have responsibility for the efficient use of water in food manufacture. You may have management responsibilities for an operational team.

Performance criteria

You must be able to:

1. identify legal requirements that control the use and disposal of water
2. establish current levels of water usage for activities undertaken by the organisation
3. identify opportunities for improving water usage efficiency
4. specify efficiency targets for each area of water usage
5. identify potential barriers that may limit water efficiency
6. specify monitoring procedures in respect of water usage
7. advise on design of processes and products to help minimise water usage
8. promote and support the implementation of water efficiency in support of organisational activities
9. define and allocate roles and responsibilities to support measures to improve water efficiency
10. identify training needs and organise training for those responsible for improving water efficiency
11. support the implementation of monitoring procedures to control water efficiency
12. establish methods to evaluate the impact of measures to improve water efficiency
13. support implementation of monitoring and control procedures
14. evaluate impact of measures to improve water efficiency
15. specify benefits achieved through efficiency measures

Knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand

1. legal requirements that control water extraction, consumption, treatment and discharge
2. government targets for sustainable water usage
3. impact of water usage on the environment and sustainability
4. how water usage impacts on environmental issues such as climate change
5. benefits of efficient water usage to the organisation
6. water usage in support of all organisational activities including embedded water
7. water supply availability, treatment methods and quality in respect to organisational water supplies
8. how to establish current levels of water usage in respect to all organisational activities
9. how to analyse organisational water usage data
10. the value of water metering and monitoring in a food environment
11. principles of benchmarking as a method of identifying opportunities for improving efficient water usage
12. processes used to support water treatment, recycling, reuse and discharge control
13. factors that limit organisational water recycling and reuse
14. water discharge, including treatment methods and quality specifications
15. potential causes and sources of water pollution and its associated implications in a food environment
16. opportunities available for reducing water usage and improving water efficiency across all activities
17. barriers that can limit the impact of water efficiency and how these can be overcome
18. how process and product design can impact on efficient water usage
19. how effective process control and quality assurance can support efficient water usage
20. how to complete an organisational cost/benefit analysis in respect to water usage
21. methods for promoting efficient water usage
22. how to monitor, control and maintain water usage
23. how to define and allocate roles and responsibilities for all those involved in improving efficient water usage across all the activities undertaken by the organisation
24. how to identify training needs and organise staff training to support efficient water usage
25. how to evaluate the impact of measures to improve efficient water usage
26. how to act as a role model for promoting efficient water usage

Keywords: Food; manufacture; sustainable; environmental; production; waste; energy; water; transport; efficiency; drink