COCA COLA USE OF WATER
Water is fundamental to our business - in fact, without water, we have no business.
We use it in our products as well as in our manufacturing processes. Aside from being
our largest ingredient, packaged drinking water is now a fast-growing product category.
In our manufacturing processes, water is used for washing and rinsing bottles and
packages, cleaning mixing tanks and pipes, producing steam, and cooling. Water also has
many uses in our office buildings, truck washes and for landscape irrigation.
Because water is so integral to our business, our ability to prosper as a business depends
on how well we use and manage this resource. Therefore, we have implemented various
initiatives
to
address
water
quality,
scarcity
and
efficiency.
For instance, we closely monitor the quality of the water used in our products, we carry
out rainwater harvesting programs in arid parts of the world, we provide wastewater
treatment in regions that lack such municipal services; and we use desalination at plants
that have access only to salt water (CSR-related water activities which we can consider
regarding possible areas of intervention / cooperation in the region)
Working with our bottlers and supply chain partners, we strive to continuously improve
our environmental performance while increasing our efficiencies. We have found that
most environmentally beneficial practices actually improve our business efficiency.
And in addition to the business benefits, preserving and protecting the environment also
furthers our promise to benefit and refresh everyone we touch and our commitment to
enhance the local communities we serve.
WATER QUALITY
The Coca-Cola Company typically gets its primary ingredient - water - from five sources:
municipal water services; private wells; surface waters such as lakes, rivers and oceans;
springs; and private water companies.
Currently, about 50 percent of the Coca-Cola system's water supply is provided by
municipal plants. But in countries with little or no water distribution infrastructure, the
water comes primarily from privately owned wells near our operational facilities.
Regardless of where the water comes from, water quality is tested at all facilities. Some
facilities conduct on-site tests for certain contaminants on a daily basis. Others have their
source water tested by external laboratories two to four times a year because that water is
highly reliable for meeting quality standards. Plants using well water tend to test more
frequently than those receiving their water from a municipal source, but all plants are
required to test. The water at all facilities must meet the standards established by the
World Health Organization or local laws, whichever are more stringent.
In addition, our Company policy requires that every manufacturing plant in the
Coca-Cola system operate a Multiple Barrier Water Treatment System, which
includes disinfection technologies (UV, ozone or chemical), micro-filtration,
multimedia, and/or carbon filtration (Best practice which Coca Cola can share with
local private sector partners for efficient technology usage)
Because of these stringent, on-site water treatment methods, our production facilities can
continue operating even if the quality of the source water degrades due to an emergency
that affects the local water supply.
In our food service business, where beverages are sold by our partners and customers to
the consuming public, a majority of the water used in these products comes directly from
locally provided city water. Still, filtration systems are designed to ensure that the quality
at each outlet meets all of our water quality specifications.
WATER QUANTITY
Currently, about a third of the world's population lives in countries with moderate to high
water stress - meaning that more than 10% of the renewable water supply is consumed
every year. Projections based on current consumption patterns suggest that about twothirds of the world's inhabitants may live in water-stressed areas by 2025.
Fresh water is not distributed evenly around the world, and some places already do not
have enough water for their agricultural, industrial, and domestic needs.
Recognizing that this is a growing problem, The Coca-Cola Company has taken several
approaches to conserving and protecting water supplies. Here are some of the
approaches:



Rainwater harvesting. In some arid regions, such as India, rainwater is captured
and channeled back into percolation ponds that recharge the aquifer. This method
is particularly effective in areas that vacillate between monsoons and droughts.
The benefits of monsoons are often washed away because the rain comes too
quickly to seep into the ground, so it flows through rivers to the ocean.
Desalination. This is the process of removing salt from sea water so that it can be
used as fresh water. This process is used in our bottling plants in Djbouti and
Maldives, where their sole sources of water are directly from the sea. Similar
processes are being used to address areas where saltwater intrusion is occurring.
Saltwater intrusion can occur when freshwater supplies become depleted and salt
water seeps into the ground water.
Efficiency measures. On average, our Company uses about 2.7 liters of water to
produce each liter of beverage. The amount varies - some use more, some use less
- depending on the type of beverage and the type of container used. The water that
is not used for the product itself is used in manufacturing or other purposes, and
according to policy, is then treated before being returned to the natural
environment.

Aquifer Protection Strategies. Strategies designed to evaluate the hydrogeology of
a water source, evaluated potential for pollution and design monitoring and
protection strategies to mitigate issues effecting water quality or quantity.
WASTER WATER TREATMENT
Like most manufacturing operations, our plants generate effluent water, or water that is a
by-product of production. In our case, for every liter of product we produce, an average
of about 2.7 liters of water is used in the manufacturing process. That water - once it has
been used for washing and rinsing packaging, purification or pasteurization, or other
processes - becomes effluent, and it has to be cleansed before it can be discharged back
into the natural environment. In some cases we reuse that treated effluent for activities
such as irrigation and washing trucks.
Most of our plants do initial treatment of their effluent (e.g. pH neutralization) before
discharging it into municipal treatment systems, which then treat it to the standards
required by law in each locale. But in areas where adequate treatment facilities are not
available, the Company builds systems to treat the effluent on site.
Our Company standards require that any effluent discharged from our facilities into a
natural body of water must be treated to a level capable of supporting fish life. To
demonstrate the effectiveness of our treatment, in addition to laboratory tests, we
maintain fish habitats (ponds and aquariums) filled with our treated effluent at more than
180 plants throughout the world. Currently, about 81% of our facilities meet this effluent
standard, and we are working hard to achieve full compliance with this policy globally by
2010.
Ensuring that the effluent does not contaminate freshwater resources is crucial to
protecting natural ecosystems and water quality.
WATER EFFICIENCIES
At The Coca-Cola Company, an average of about 2.7 liters of water is used to produce 1
liter of product. In other words, 1 liter of water goes into the product that you drink, and
about 1.7 liters are used for sanitizing machines, cleaning the bottles, and other purposes.
The water that does not go directly into our products is typically treated in a wastewater
treatment plant and returned to the natural water cycle (back into a river, lake, etc.).
Across our global operations, our water usage varies depending on a number of factors,
including the kind of product produced and the packaging used. For example, plants that
make teas and coffees tend to have higher water-use ratios than other plants because of
the pasteurization process needed for these products. And additional water is needed to
clean these bottles before they can be used again.
Though most fresh water is used for agricultural purposes, industry does use a significant
amount of water. Water is needed for nearly all manufacturing processes, and the amount
needed can vary dramatically depending on the materials used. Compared with other peer
companies that report on their water use performance, we are a relatively water-efficient
company. However, we recognize that we can make significant improvements, and we
are working to identify efficiency opportunities every day.
Inside our facilities, several activities help us improve water use efficiency, including:
repairing of leaks; placing meters on equipment to monitor use; installing automatic shutoffs for equipment, including spray and lube jets; adjusting processes to reduce waste;
using ionized air instead of water to clean incoming empty containers; and reusing some
sources of water in other applications such as crate, floor and vehicle washing.
Another way that The Coca-Cola Company can help conserve water is to learn how our
suppliers and consumers use it, and then create more efficient ways of conducting
business based on that understanding. We work with our suppliers, bottling partners, and
others to continuously improve our environmental efficiencies. And we have found that
most environmentally beneficial practices have an added bonus: they actually improve
our business efficiency at the same time they are preserving and protecting vital natural
resources.
More information about water use by industry and other issues can be found in our
"Useful Water Links" section.