The water available for industrial sector (WAIS) framework for assessing the industrial water deficit risk while securing downstream availability

Abstract Amid growing environmental awareness among manufacturers and consumers, a rising need has emerged to minimize the impacts of industrial water withdrawal (IWW) on shared water systems and safeguard business continuity. These dual concerns represent the core of the double materiality concept in corporate sustainability but remain challenging to quantify. This study introduces the water available for industrial sector (WAIS) framework: a dynamic allocation approach that sets IWW targets by reserving water for other sectors, including environmental flow requirements. The framework operationalizes the double materiality by jointly assessing: (i) the impacts of IWW on downstream water availability for other sectors, representing impact materiality, and (ii) the operational risks from unmet industrial demand under WAIS-based withdrawal constraints, reflecting financial materiality. The framework was applied to Thailand’s Chao Phraya River Basin, home to 15 industrial estates (IEs), using the H08 global hydrological model. Results showed that water conflicts (financial materiality) between industrial and agricultural sectors occurred at most IEs for one to two months annually, primarily during the dry season. Annual IWW under conflict ranged from 0% to 13%, reflecting spatial disparities in pressure on shared resources. While industrial water use had a minimal basin-wide impact on agricultural withdrawals (<0.2%), localized effects were substantial, highlighting concerns around impact materiality. Simultaneously, constraining IWW below WAIS thresholds increased water deficit days at several IEs, elevating financial materiality through heightened operational risk. These findings highlight the need to integrate double materiality into corporate water stewardship by aligning industrial water use with ecological and societal priorities through context-sensitive allocation strategies.