2016 Salt Lake County Watershed Symposium

The Business of Water: Lessons from Coca-Cola Watershed Replenishment
At Swire Coca-Cola USA, we have seen the sense in conserving natural resources since the very beginning of our business journey. We have a vested business interest in protecting the water resources in the communities in which we operate; where we produce refreshing Coca-Cola products is where we also distribute and sell them. In order to maintain the most important material for our business—water—we have to work hard to protect natural water sources.

One of our major initiatives toward protecting the water resources around us is called the Replenish project. In collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company, we work to implement conservation projects that restore the water supplies of natural water bodies like rivers and wetlands. In 2007, The Coca-Cola Company and all of its bottling partners, including ourselves, set the goal of returning 100% of the water that goes into our finished products back to nature and communities. By the end of 2015, the Coca-Cola system achieved 100% replenishment globally.

In Utah, we have worked in the Chalk Creek watershed to improve stream flows by implementing conservation irrigation for a local rancher and by removing a fish migration barrier. Secondly, we work with The Nature Conservancy at Jesse Creek in Idaho to restore a dry section of the stream. Our manufacturing plant in Fruitland, Idaho sources its water from the Jesse Creek watershed. We are also evaluating a third project in the upper Bear River watershed in Wyoming. This project would restore the habitats and passage for local trout by replenishing an estimate of billions of liters to nature.

In partnership with The Coca-Cola Company, we’ve learned that there are several necessary steps to implementing a successful replenishment project. The first step is to map the water. Coca-Cola does this by completing source water vulnerability assessments for our business operating areas. We have completed Source Water Vulnerability Assessments for each of our manufacturing facilities, utilizing the expert knowledge of third-party hydrogeologists. Following these vulnerability assessments, we have also developed Source Water Protection Plans, which work to protect the watersheds in our operating areas. We operate in the western U.S., from Portland to Denver to Phoenix. Our goal is to protect watersheds throughout these areas, some of which have limited water availability.

The second lesson that Swire Coca-Cola has learned from Replenish projects is the value of partnerships. We partner with environmental nonprofits, customers such as universities, and other members of the Coca-Cola system. Swire Coca-Cola has partnered with Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, and Coca-Cola North America on three restoration projects in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.

Thirdly, to build on the importance of partnership, we have found that active collaboration and engagement in these programs is vital to the success of watershed restoration projects. Collaboration with our partners has allowed us to identify suitable Replenish sites and to successfully implement restoration projects. The Replenish projects at Jesse Creek and Chalk Creek return 275 million liters of water to nature annually.