Page 76 - 2023 Sustainability Report

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP

Water and the Needs of Our Communities

Not only do we focus on ensuring that our discharges water stress are those with a range of 40 percent to 80
do not diminish the quality of local water resources, we percent and areas with extremely high water stress are those
also are committed to being responsible users of the greater than 80 percent. We analyzed our operating locations
available water in the communities in which we operate. by zip code, using the World Resources Institute’s Water Risk
Martin Marietta’s production processes rely on water. Atlas tool, known as Aqueduct, which was updated in 2023.
Importantly, we implement water management practices A profile of our building materials operations (which includes
recognizing that clean and reliable water is also critical to all businesses other than Magnesia Specialties) is shown in the
our local communities. graphic below.

To this end, for many years we have monitored the water
stress levels of these communities, measured as a ratio of “Importantly, we implement
annual water withdrawals to total available annual
renewable supply, which measures the competition over water management practices
local water resources. A higher percentage indicates that recognizing that clean and reliable
there are more water users competing for the water
resource. water is also critical to our local
The United States as a whole is categorized as having a communities.”
medium-high (20-40%) water stress rating. Areas with high

48 aggregates locations in areas 22 ready mixed concrete 1 cement plant located
in area classified as
as high water stress
high water stress
46 aggregates locations in areas 16 ready mixed concrete 1 cement plant in area
classified as extremely
as extremely high water stress
water stress
high water stress
Geographically, the majority of our locations classified as produced or an annual savings of approximately 390 acre
high or extremely high water stress areas are primarily in feet of water.
Texas, Colorado and California. In those areas, responsible
water use and recycling are critical, and we have made The water recovery system at Beckmann Quarry, installed
significant efforts to reduce water waste, as described in the in 2010, continues to provide significant benefits and
following examples. reduced the facility’s water withdrawal by an average of
50 percent compared to 2009. This equates to a pumping
Over the past several years, Martin Marietta has invested in reduction of more than 20,000 acre-feet, resulting in
water recovery equipment at many locations in Texas and billions of gallons of additional Edwards Aquifer water that
in Minnesota. For example, at our Medina Rock & Rail is available to South Central Texas communities for other
plant between 2018 and 2020 we completed a number of beneficial uses.
operational improvements, including an on-site water
recycling pond as well as paving 4 miles of roadway. While At our Maple Grove Plant in Minnesota, we installed a
the plant’s production of washed products has increased state-of-the-art wash plant / plate press in 2017. This
dramatically over time, these improvements still led to an specialized equipment is used to treat and recirculate
estimated 20 percent drop in water usage per ton of stone aggregate wash water in a nearly closed-loop system. This

74 2023 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT