Ensuring Sustainability Using an Environmental Management System

An Internet search for the definition of sustainability will provide a wide variety of links. There are over thirty separate definitions for the word, particularly as it is used in today's world. The problem that arises given the variety of definitions is how do we seek to meet any one of the definitions and, in fact, work for a sustainable present and future? One of the goals of operating a sustainable facility is to reduce the facility's environmental impacts often translates to energy usage, since energy production has significant environmental impacts. There is a definite synergy between sustainability and an EMS.The Kent County Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility (KCRWTF) is the first wastewater facility in the country to be certified to ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, and the National Biosolid Partnership's EMS standard. Under the EHS-MS, the KCRWTF has committed to reduce its energy usage and air emissions.