How clean water access shapes the textile industry

Inside the world of apparel and textile factories, workers face an invisible threat that grows more dangerous each year. With global temperatures continuing to climb and extreme heat becoming more frequent, the already hot environment inside factories can reach dangerous levels. Workers are exposed to added heat from machines, minimal ventilation, and steady production demands that further exacerbate worsening conditions.

Heat stress, a condition that occurs when the body cannot cool itself sufficiently, leading to exhaustion, illness, and in severe cases, organ failure, is becoming an urgent occupational health crisis that demands immediate attention.

Addressing that risk starts with something fundamental: water. Water sits at the center of the solution. Clean, reliable water is the most important tool for protecting the body from heat. Yet, access to it doesn’t begin at the factory. It starts at the source, in watersheds that supply communities and the people who live and work in them. Unfortunately, these sources are under growing pressure too.

Macy’s, Inc. partnered together with WWF and RISE to address the interconnected challenges of water management and worker well-being in supply chains. WWF brought deep expertise on freshwater systems, climate resilience, and water stewardship issues, with a particular focus on how water scarcity, pollution, and ecosystem degradation affect the communities and industries that depend on them; RISE contributed research on how climate change is affecting workers in Cambodia and Bangladesh. This resulted in practical guidance for Macy’s, Inc. suppliers who operate in high-risk regions, so they can manage water more responsibly while supporting worker health and safety.

Water is an integral part of life and is critical for business operations, including throughout the many stages of Macy’s Inc. Private Brand product lifecycles. Yet water is often left out or undervalued in companies’ sustainability strategies. Business as usual can no longer persist as climate change continues to have enormous impacts on communities, businesses, and nature.

In 2024, WWF developed guidance with Macy’s and RISE based on Macy’s contextual water ambitions for their suppliers. This guidance focuses on evaluating and strengthening existing practices in Water Governance, Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), and Water Quality within factories and local watersheds. It also raises Macy’s Private Brand partners’ level of ambition to take action for workers, especially women.

Macy’s Inc. supplier guidance includes ensuring access to clean water throughout the factory, mandating rest breaks without production penalties, providing adequate sanitation facilities, and promoting good employee hygiene practices. It recognizes the issue that different workers, particularly women, have different needs and outlines practical ways to involve workers in creating solutions, while raising compliance with water-related legal and regulatory requirements and respecting water rights.

These measures are especially critical when considering that the effects of heat stress and poor water access do not fall equally across all workers.

Menstruation Hygiene Management (MHM) also requires access to clean water for basic hygiene, and workers without it face not only health risks, but significant discomfort. Lack of proper MHM can also lead to a decrease in production due to absenteeism and presenteeism. Different local organizations in Bangladesh estimate that between 30% to 70% of absent days among female garment workers are due to poor MHM¹.

Inadequate sanitation facilities compound these challenges further. Many workers avoid drinking water because it means more trips to the toilet, which are already few and crowded. This issue is worse in factories where women make up the majority of the workforce, because there tends to be the same number of toilets for both men and women. Pregnant workers are also particularly vulnerable to the effects of heat stress and dehydration, which can have serious consequences for both mother and child, while nursing workers need adequate access to hydration to support their bodies during breastfeeding.

Though women make up majority of the industry’s workforce, they remain underrepresented in leadership roles, unions and among worker representatives, says RISE, making it even harder for women to assert their needs. This lack of representation also affects workers who are paid by piece-rate and lose wages the moment they stop for a break.

For textile workers, the issue of accessing clean water doesn’t just begin in the factory or the communities where workers live. It starts at the source, in rivers, lakes, and groundwater systems. And when water sources are degraded or unreliable, the cost can be immediate and far-reaching.

In many communities where these workers live, reliable access to clean water is not guaranteed. In some areas, households don’t have access to public utilities due to absent or decaying infrastructure; for others, they must travel to fetch water from rivers, ponds or other sources. This water may be contaminated, and these sources are vulnerable to drying up entirely due to prolonged droughts, shifting climate patterns, and increasing demand from communities and industries. The burden of collecting water also falls disproportionately on women and girls, consuming significant time that could otherwise be spent on work, education, or rest. The risk of waterborne illnesses, causing diarrhea, vomiting, and fever, is high. And the cost stretches beyond the home. When a worker falls ill, it could mean missed hours and wages. For a business, this could also disrupt production schedules, drive up costs, and ultimately impact the reliability of the workforce.

This is where WWF's basin programs play a critical role. By working at the watershed level, WWF addresses water challenges at the root cause, restoring and protecting the ecosystems that communities and businesses depend on through Nature-based Solutions (NbS), policy and advocacy, and on-the-ground interventions that deliver direct, tangible improvements in the daily lives of workers, the communities they live in, and nature. It is through the partnership like the one with Macy’s, that this type of work is able to reach further, including the on the ground work in the Mekong Delta, where Macy’s is part of WWF Vietnam’s water stewardship program. The program takes a holistic approach that encompasses WASH, alongside Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that address water quality and availability at the source, policy and advocacy, and working within the broader Mekong basin to protect and restore the ecosystems that communities and businesses depend on. In the Dong Nai River basin, for example, the program has supported the laying of pipeline from the public water utility to local communities, who previously had no choice but to rely on untreated river water.

Business resilience depends on healthy people, and people depend on a healthy environment. When environmental pressures increase, the systems that supply food, water, and safe living conditions begin to fail; workers feel the impacts first, and supply chains soon follow.

Macy’s is taking action alongside peers to address heat stress, expand access to clean water, and improve the lives of their workers. Ensuring safe and reliable access to clean water at work and at home is both a moral imperative and a strategic investment. However, these efforts cannot succeed in isolation. Protecting the water sources and ecosystems that communities and businesses depend on is foundational; without it, even the best interventions on the factory floor or community level cannot endure.

Water is a lifeline that shapes the health and future of the planet, people, and businesses. Partnerships and collaborations like those between WWF, Macy’s, and RISE demonstrates that these issues are best tackled together. The apparel/textile industry has the knowledge, resources, and commercial incentive to drive change for their workers and the communities where they operate. We know bottom lines matter, and this bottom line is simple: by acting now to protect water at its source businesses can safeguard people, nature, and their own resilience.

^{[1] Paul-Majumder, 2003, IBRD, 2011, WSSCC, 2013, SNV, 2014}