Union Pacific

Union Pacific Corporation is a U.S.-based freight railroad operating in 23 states with a network servicing agricultural, energy, industrial, and consumer products across the western United States. Union Pacific's water use is primarily to cool locomotive systems, wash equipment, manage vegetation, and support employees, but stormwater and wastewater are also part of system management due to the size of the network's construction and maintenance activities. Union Pacific's strongest water sustainability case focuses on its system of preventing contaminated stormwater runoff from entering waterways.

The railroad maintains Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans at nearly 250 facilities and Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure plans at approximately 140 facilities, primarily for locomotive and rail car maintenance sites. Stormwater pollution prevention and spill prevention plans establish inspection, maintenance, and pollution prevention practices that minimize stormwater runoff pollution, but Union Pacific does not report how these protections have been tracked or measured. Union Pacific assessed 1,318 bridge, rail-capacity, and commercial construction sites from 2019 to 2023, of which nearly 1,250 sites had biodiversity management plans that identify waterways, wetlands, migratory species, and other species of concern. No quantified metrics are provided, such as the area protected or water quality improvements.

The only efficiency metric is a reduction in total discharged wastewater from 2.56 million to 2.15 million cubic meters. Total water use increased from 0.24 million to 0.41 million cubic meters, but no values are given for water withdrawal, water intensity, water-stress exposure, or quantified water conservation savings.