IN A NEW FORM

New Delhi, June 5: Coca-Cola has decided to reduce the amount of water that goes into making its drinks.

But don’t worry, Coke will taste just the same, as the company will not reduce the water content in the drink but rather cut down on its consumption in the production process.

“The idea is to recycle and reuse it,” said Deepak Jolly, vice-president, public affairs and communication.

In the last couple of years water use at Coca-Cola’s Indian plants has been cut down by 30 per cent, he added.

Coca-Cola has 60 bottling plants in India that are owned either by the company or its franchisees.

For every litre of Coke made here, Coca-Cola units use about 3.65 litres of water. This is expected to be brought down to 3.2 litres.

However, this is still high by Coca-Cola standards as the soft drinks giant uses as little as 2.54 litres of water in some plants abroad.

The Indian operations will work towards global standards in the years ahead, officials said. Globally, Coke along with its bottlers used 290 billion litres of water for beverage production last year.

The world’s top beverage company will also make more efforts in recycling the water it uses in manufacturing.

It plans to spend $20 million to protect seven major global watersheds, including the Yangtze basin in China, in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund.

However, none of the watersheds in India are among them. According to Coca Cola sources, WWF does not have any project in India.

The firm tries to replenish the water it uses by enriching the soil in selected areas, Coca-Cola India officials said. The company has 300 water harvesting units spread across 17 states in the country.

N.R. Goenka, a Coke bottler in Bengal, has started a Rs 200-crore water harvesting project in Taratola this January, the company added.