In this Waterworld magazine interview recorded at the BlueTech Forum in Vancouver, host Angela Godwin speaks with Toni McCrory, who leads water compliance for Walmart. McCrory explains that managing water, stormwater, and wastewater compliance for over 5,000 stores requires a holistic mindset rather than a single solution. Walmart focuses on having the right assets in place, maintaining them timely, and using performance‑based incentives for contractor partners to drive cost reductions and efficiency. The company has built an extensive environmental management program that collects and leverages data to support compliance decisions. McCrory also describes Walmart’s water stewardship philosophy: engaging local stores with water‑resource councils, participating in watershed partnerships, and conducting community clean‑up projects to ensure clean water for the neighborhoods where they live, work, and play. Finally, she highlights the value of attending the BlueTech Forum, emphasizing networking with like‑minded industry professionals, gaining new ideas, and forming partnerships that can shape the future of water management.
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Hi, I'm Angela Godwin with Waterworld magazine coming to you from the BlueTech forum here in Vancouver. Joining me this afternoon is my guest Toni McCrory. She heads up compliance efforts for Walmart. Toni, thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you for having me.
We are so thrilled to have you. So you deal with all of the water compliance programs for over, over 5,000 Walmart stores. What a huge undertaking. Tell us a little bit about your approach and how you manage stormwater and water and wastewater compliance.
So it is a lot to do every day, but it's a great, great position. I love the challenges that it brings and really we've had to approach it from a holistic mindset. There's not one magic piece that solves everything. When we look at compliance and especially when we focus in on water, very focused on asset making sure that we have the right assets in place and that we're taking care of them in the timely manner that they need to be taken care of. We also look at, you know, do we have the right performance based incentives for our contractor partners in place? Are we doing what we can to drive down cost but increase efficiency and really savings to our customer overall? We have a very extensive environmental, environmental management program that we've built out. So having the systems to back up everything that we're doing, collectively collecting the data and then actually putting that data to use for us. So all of those factors really tie into making an effective and compliant solution for us.
That's fantastic. We hear a lot about corporate social responsibility. And I'm just curious, what is water and water stewardship? What does that mean to Walmart?
Yeah, so for us it really is focused on are we being good stewards in the communities where we live. We have a lot of efforts in engaging our local stores with their water resource councils or getting them involved in whatever watershed partnerships might be out there doing cleanups on the local river that they're a part of and making sure that we see and are seen as contributors to providing clean water back into the communities where not only do we live and work, but also play. And really getting to be a part of those communities is very important for us. Excellent.
Now it's wonderful to see you here at the Blue Tech Forum. What would you say has been the value for you in attending? What have you been able to get out of this particular event?
Oh my goodness, it's endless right now. All of the opportunities that I've had here, just making all of those connections with like minded individuals who are so focused on what's next, what's new, what's upcoming, and where can we take the industry that, you know, one person can't really set the course for the future. But having a forum like this where you, you have so many like minded individuals is absolutely amazing for us. And so I'm hoping to take back some great ideas, some new friendships and good partnerships for the future.
Excellent. Well, we wish you all the best with that momentum. Hoping that it continues for you. Tony, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate it and good luck with everything.
