Picking up your a.m. latte at a local coffee house requires more than just the one cup of water that brewed your caffeine fix. Surviving the morning rush hour with latte in hand costs approximately $3.50 and plenty of water to deliver your coffee order.

The coffee business is dependent upon the world’s water supply in an enormous way.  Water hydrates the soil on coffee plantations. It cleans utensils that baristas use to whip up the fancy drinks that hook coffee lovers everywhere.

Starbucks Coffee (Starbucks) is one of the most popular coffee enterprises across the world. Starbucks recognizes the importance of water conservation for the success of its business practices. The company is dedicated to environmental stewardship and is implementing a water conservation program which aims for a 25 percent reduction in water consumption by 2015.

WWW interviewed Dr. Michael Hopkins, C.E.O of MHC International Limited, a social enterprise that concentrates on corporate social responsibility and corporate sustainability, for his expert opinion on the effects of social responsibility on end profits for major corporations.

“[Major corporations] are here to make a profit but they need to pay attention to their bottom line. In the long run, corporate social responsibility will increase their bottom line, ” said Hopkins. Business practices that control the use of finite natural resources should sure that corporations do not deplete the products that yield end profits.

Starbucks has partnered with Conservation International, an organization that uses science, policy and field work to manage conservation development projects of the world’s natural resources. Together with CI, Starbucks monitors its coffee growing locations to use water responsibly, to preserve the natural landscape of these areas, and to sustainably produce the best coffee product.

In cafés, water is wasted in relatively unnoticeable ways if careful and consistent attention is not drawn to water management. For example, using the open tap water process to clean utensils and other coffee equipment requires large amounts of water. If occupied with several tasks at once, a barista could accidentally leave a tap running while tending to a customer. Meanwhile fresh and unused water is poured right down the drain.

To avoid unnecessary water waste, Starbucks has invested in a dipper well system to clean utensils. Starbucks cleans its blenders with a high pressure water system versus the open tap method, another way to preserve water.

The company uses dishwashers that take one less gallon of water per cycle versus the high pressure water sprays that consume much more water.   Espresso machines are pre-programmed to dispense controlled amounts of water when sterilized instead of allowing for an unmonitored flow of water to run.

Imagine every Starbucks location across the world conserving one gallon of water per dishwasher cycle? The average African family consumes just five gallons of water per day. With each washing cycle, Starbucks has conserved enough water to provide several African villages with their daily water supply.

With water saving methods in full throttle at each location, Starbucks will essentially save gallons of water that otherwise would have been mismanaged. The fundamental commitment toward environmental stewardship makes a water world of difference after frenzied coffee fiends swarm Starbucks locations everywhere for their caffeine fix.

Thus far, Starbucks reports being on track with its water conservation goals. The company reduced water consumption by 4.1 percent in 2009. Fulfillment of the 25 percent water usage reduction by 2015 would be a major step toward corporate accountability and environmental stewardship.

Starbucks has the opportunity to exemplify environmental stewardship and corporate social responsibility with its water conservation project. If successful, Starbucks could share best practices in water conservation with other coffee companies also committed to reducing water use.

Water brews the delicious cup of coffee that keeps crowds flocking to the Starbucks’ stands on every major city block. A gallon of water saved is a gallon of water earned. And increasing profit margins and a spike in earning potential is the ultimate goal for coffee distributors and consumer’s, right?