Coke: Profits Over People

 NEW DELHI - A leading environmental research group based here has asked Coca-Cola to consider shutting down a bottling plant in the drought-stricken state of Rajasthan, saying that the plant is depleting scarce water supplies.

Back in 2006, Coca-Cola commissioned a report from The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi.    

TERI was formally established in 1974 with the purpose of tackling and dealing with the immense and acute problems that mankind is likely to be faced with in the years ahead

•    on account of the gradual depletion of the earth’s finite energy resources which are largely non-renewable and
•    on account of the existing methods of their use which are polluting

Over the years the Institute has developed a wider interpretation of this core purpose and its application. Consequently, TERI has created an environment that is enabling, dynamic and inspiring for the development of solutions to global problems in the fields of energy, environment and current patterns of development, which are largely unsustainable. The Institute has grown substantially over the years, particularly, since it launched its own research activities and established a base in New Delhi, its registered headquarters.

Now TERI is heavily focused on research into sustainable development.

The report and investigation were commissioned in response to response to reports that pesticide residues had been found in Coke’s products produced in Rajasthan, a state in North West India.  In August of 2006, another Dehli based group, the Center for Science and Environment, disclosed results of tests of eleven Coke and Pepsi products.  Their findings indicated that the product testng revealed pesticide ash high as 24 times the recommended limit.

Coca-Cola has 49 bottling plants in India.  The TERI report looked at six of them.  Their study found no pesticide residue at those six plants and determined that the water used at the plants "generally meets the government regulatory standards."  The study, however, did not stop there.  They went on to highlight  conditions at the Kaladera plant in Rajasthan specifically.   The findings included a statement that the Coke plants ongoing operations in the area "continue to be one of the contributors to a worsening water situation and a source of stress to the communities around it”.  

TERI’s report recommended that Coke should either find alternative water supplies, relocate or shut down the plant.    Water shortages in Rajasthan have gotten so bad that The Keoladeo National Park, home to the world-famous Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, may lose its world heritage status owning to falling water levels and disappearing migratory birds that are bypassing the region as a result of lower water levels in the man-made Bharatpur Lake.  Ironically, this lake was made from a  depression left after soil was extracted to built the Ajan Dam earthen dam to save the town of Bharatpur in 1760. 

Among major tourist attractions in the area is the Bird Sanctuary where numerous migratory birds, from as far away as Siberia and Central Asia, spend their winters before returning to their breeding grounds.   Lower water levels have resulted in fewer birds wintering over. Members of India’s Parliament have also pointed out that many of the local birds have also started avoiding the park because it has become nearly arid. 

The New York Times reports that Atul Singh, chief executive of Coke’s India division, said the company was not considering shutting the plant.   What struck me about Coke’s response was this quote from Singh:   “The easiest thing would be to shut down, but the solution is not to run away, If we shut down, Rajasthan is still going to have a water problem. We want to work with farming communities and industries to reduce the amount of water used.”

If one looks at this objectively, its clear that Coke’s plant is converting good, clean public water into a sweet beverage that isn’t a tenth as useful to people as the original water.  A report of the Expert Committee on Integrated Development of Water Resources (Link to PDF) in June 2005 points out that India, with 16 per cent of the people but less than 3 per cent of global fresh water resources is in a precarious position in a world that has become increasingly aware of shortage of fresh water.   In India, reliable access fresh water is a particular thorny problem because the fresh water that is available is not spread evenly among regions and fluctuates greatly based on the time of year.  Even in the context of India as a whole, Rajasthan is at a disadvantage.  This large but dry state suffers from a disproportionately poor availability of water when compared to its potential large consumption needs in the form of people, animals and agriculture. 

The population growth in Rajasthan is among the highest in India. Demand for water from new consumers such as industry, tourism and recreation, as well as sanitation and environmental purposes, has been growing fast.  The supply, however, has not grown. The primary source of water in the state comes from the scanty and uncertain rainfall that comes to the region for just two months each year.

Accepted international standards deem countries and regions with per capita annual water supply of 1,000-2,000 cubic meters (cum) as water-stressed. If the supply is under 1,000 cum per person per year, a situation of water scarcity is said to exist. Inadequate water becomes a serious constraint to human well being and economic growth in the event of such scarcity.  In Rajasthan, the available water has already fallen to 809 cum per person per year (in 2005).  That 809 cubic meters is the amount available per person PERIOD.  In gallons, 809 cubic meters comes to 21864 gallons.  To put things in perspective for Americans,  21,864 gallons of water would be enough to produce about eight pounds of beef using the lowest estimation of water used by US agricultural production methods.
http://adhd102.livejournal.com/1780.html

The report puts the idea of "natural" water sources being exploited to create a sustainable a solution in perspective with:

Rainfall in large parts of Rajasthan is not only inadequate but also varies sharply from year to year. Consequently, droughts are now almost a normal occurrence. Hardly three or four years of the state’s 52-year existence have been totally drought-free. Most of the rest of the years witnessed large number of districts affected by a paucity of rains. Fluctuations in rainfall influence both surface water and ground water availability.

This is a region where Coca-Cola has put up a plant that uses fresh water to produce cavities and other sugar related problem in a nation with a ballooning diabetes problem.  And this is a region where Coca-Cola’s local chief executive says The easiest thing would be to shut down, but the solution is not to run away, If we shut down, Rajasthan is still going to have a water problem. 

This is not a situation like the droughts that have hit Georgia and other South Eastern US states.  The water problem in Rajasthan will not be solved if people don’t water their lawns or take shorter showers.  They are already importing all the water that they can from neighboring states.  Georgia’s recent drought is something people living down there see as a once in a lifetime event.  In Rajasthan the years with enough rainfall are the ones that stand out in the memories of those old enough to recall them.

In a situation like this, sometimes the answer is to just shut down and walk or run away.  With 48 other plants in India I am sure they can make up the production.   Water that keeps people alive needs to come before a soft drink manufacturers convenience. When people are surviving on less water per year than the Coca-Cola executives back in Atlanta use to water a golf course for a week it is time to step back and recognize that people living in borderline desert regions can’t grow crops on sweet beverages, even if they do have Electrolytes.

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ORGANIC SCHOOL LUNCH STUDIES directory 
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BBC: news articles on diet changes in schools 
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Success Stories: Changing Diet eliminated ADHD
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