2025 Valero Report on Guiding Principles - Flipbook - Page 36
Water Management
Water management is a critical component of our business, and we continue to work with stakeholders to improve
our performance, while also reducing consumption by:
• Taking a risk-based approach to water management and integrating
water strategy and water security into our long-term planning and
business processes.
• Engaging with local governments, industry associations, suppliers
and regulatory agencies to develop innovative solutions in water
management and conservation in water-stressed areas.
• Assessing and managing regional water risks through updated
sustainability assessments.
• Ensuring compliance with water management laws and regulations.
• Reporting on risks posed by water scarcity on each facility, as
applicable.
• Protecting existing water resources through sound water management
policies.
• Recycling and reusing water to improve ef昀椀ciency.
Most of our water consumption takes place in our re昀椀ning operations.
Based on the revised version of the World Resources Institute’s Water Risk
Atlas tool, Aqueduct, we determined that three of our 15 re昀椀neries are
located in regions with high baseline water stress. Reduction and mitigation
initiatives include the evaluation of reused municipal wastewater for
cooling tower purposes and acquisition of secured water rights. Water
scarcity can be a risk not only to communities but also to re昀椀ning
operations, as water is needed for cooling, heating, processing and safety.
Employees in front of our Port Arthur
re昀椀nery water cooling towers.
We have taken several steps to secure our operations in conditions of water
scarcity.
At our Wilmington re昀椀nery, we installed facilities to use treated
municipal wastewater to supplement our cooling tower makeup
water. We expect to save up to 420 million gallons of potable water
per year, equivalent to roughly the annual amount consumed by
3,800 U.S. households.34
Our Three Rivers re昀椀nery recycles treated wastewater for use in
irrigation for hay production.
Our McKee re昀椀nery recently commissioned a novel Closed Circuit
Reverse Osmosis Treatment technology to treat and reuse brine
(water with high concentration of salt) instead of freshwater in
the cooling tower process, which is expected to replace 25 million
gallons of water annually from the Ogallala Aquifer.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power honored the Valero Wilmington
Re昀椀nery with the 2024 Recycled Water
Customer of the Year for adopting the use of
Advanced Treated Recycled Water (ATRW).
36
Our Welcome ethanol plant was one of the industry’s 昀椀rst
operators to achieve “zero discharge” of wastewater by recovering
and recycling process water and stormwater.
Process water and stormwater are treated as necessary before
discharging or reusing. Our wastewater treatment plants are
generally comparable to and as effective as those operated by
most cities.
