Water-supply and distribution companies (WSC) are companies dealing with one of the most crucial natural resources. That is why the German national sustainability strategy highlights water as one of the priority fields of action. Yet, the German water sector and the implementation of corporate sustainability with management tools have not been in the focus of research so far. The central research question is how water companies implement sustainability requirements in their management. Therefore, a first analysis is made by a cross- sectional design imposing data for further research in this field. In the