Our Goal
- Improve water management in our value chain by addressing water quality in apparel production and water use in our operations, prioritizing water-stressed regions
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- Our Impact
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Water
Water is essential to life as well as to the fashion industry. From textile production to garment finishing, water is critical to our supply chain. To meet our responsibility to use water wisely, we’ve set a goal to conserve water across our own operations and stores, while supporting improved water quality outcomes within our supply chain, particularly in water-stressed regions. stressed regions
Mapping Our Water Use
To make meaningful progress, we need to quantify the impact of water on our business. To do that, we’ve mapped the physical water risk of every Nordstrom site, gaining insights that will help us target water use efficiencies. We also found that our California sites—specifically those in Southern California—are at the highest risk, with 65% of Nordstrom’s extremely high-risk sites located in the state.
With this information, we can prioritize our efforts. To guide our progress, by 2027, we will develop and set a 2030 water reduction target across all of Nordstrom’s retail operations, with an emphasis on water-stressed regions.
Water Stewardship in Our Operations
Across our operations, we look for ways to manage and reduce our water impact responsibly. In our restaurants, for example, we’ve acted to make restrooms more efficient, including by installing automatic shutoff timers on sinks and reduced-flow toilet facilities.
We are also integrating water-efficiency requirements into the construction criteria for Nordstrom Rack stores and we will continue rolling out this approach to future new store developments.
Responsible Water Management in Our Supply Chains
Responsible water management is essential to protecting worker health, local communities and ecosystems. Chemicals used in garment production can pose health risks, while contaminated groundwater can have long lasting impacts on soil quality, agriculture, aquatic life and biodiversity.
To help address these risks, Nordstrom asks suppliers operating in high water risk regions to achieve industry recognized certification in water and chemical management best practices. We work with the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Programme as our chosen industry partner and aim to engage 80% of Nordstrom Made suppliers in water stressed regions to meet the ZDHC Foundational level or higher. These practices help prevent water pollution, improve wastewater quality and safeguard the health of workers and surrounding communities.