PepsiCo Replenishes Groundwater in Water Stressed Regions of India

Feb 22, 2012 9:00 AM ET

India Sinking into Water Stress at Current Usage

This year, villages in Paithan district, neighbouring Aurangabad in Maharashtra, received 40% less rain than usual. Still, the farmers there did just fine.

Some of them even did better, planting not one but two crops, and going beyond staples to start growing fruits like sweet lime and mango. Water is less of a worry now because of PepsiCo India. The beverage major is trying to make up for the water-guzzling tendencies of its Aurangabad plant through various initiatives to replenish the ground water in the region.

In 2010, eight years after it set up its Aurangabad plant, PepsiCo partnered a civil society organisation, Alternative Development Initiatives, to recharge ground water in vulnerable villages of the region. It built 13 check dams and recharged over 100 wells, at a cost of Rs 50 lakh, in places where the water shortage goes back 20 years.

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