Coca Cola Kerala

• In India there are 27 company owned bottling operations and another 17 franchise owned
• In 2000, a subsidiary of Atlanta based Coca-Cola company established a plant in Planchimada in the Palakaad district of Kerala [Southern India]
• 17% of world population is in India but < 4% of world's freshwater is in India
• Coca Cola drew approx. 510,000 L of water each day from boreholes and open wells
• In the time coke has been operating in Kerala, water tables decreased from 12 m to 35 m below ground level.

  3.8 L water = 1 L cola
• Coke has been excluded of draining local water aquifers, leaving subsidence farmers with no water sources so harvest has dropped by 40% as fields are not irrigated properly
• Water scarcity affects 60 million people in India
• Wells almost empty - local villages now walk nearly 5 km x 2 a day to get water
• Villages reported that the little water left was undrinkable and when used for bathing burned their eyes and led to skin problems
• Coke improved water use efficiency by 14% since 2004; state they continue to invest in new innovations and plant processes to help make even more improvement
• Coke said they replenished approx. 93% of groundwater they use through creation of rainwater harvesting structures, restoration of ponds and traditional water bodies and interventions focused on improving water use efficiency in agriculture
• Coke invested in water harvesting schemes in India, they state actual recharge has been 5 times what they extract from the ground e.g installed more than 500 rainwater harvesting structures in 22 states and donated $1 mn to support revival of Nemam Lake [a 1000 acre lake in Tamil Nadu]