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Coca-Cola Continues Unethical and Dishonest Practices in India

Company Must Follow Recommendations ofCompany Funded Study:Shut Down Kala Dera Bottling Plant

By Amit SrivastavaIndia Resource CenterSeptember 12, 2008

San Francisco:It is said that those who don't learn from the mistakes of the past are destined torepeat them.It seems that the Coca-Cola has not learnt any lessons from Plachimada - a village in the state ofKerala in India where the community-led campaign has shut down its plant since March 2004.The manner is which the Coca-Cola company has decided to deal with another community-ledcampaign in India - in the village of Kala Dera in the state of Rajasthan - is indicative of thearrogance and impunity of the company that has landed it in trouble before.And Coca-Cola in India is in for a rude awakening, again.

Kala Dera - Thirsting from Coca-Cola

Kala Dera is a large village outside the city of Jaipur where agriculture is the primary source oflivelihood. Coca-Cola started its bottling operations in Kala Dera in 2000, and within a year, thecommunity started to notice arapid decline in groundwaterlevels.For farmers, loss of

groundwater translated directlyinto loss of income. For women,it meant having to walk an

additional 5 to 6 kilometers justto fetch water to meet the basicdaily needs of the family. Formany children in Kala Dera, itmeant leaving schools toprovide a much needed helpinghand doing household choressince the women had additionalburdens.The community in Kala Deraorganized itself to challenge theCoca-Cola company for theworsening water conditions -through extraction and pollution

- and demanded the closure ofthe Coca-Cola bottling plant.The company, in usual fashion,denied any wrongdoing,blaming "outsiders" for theincreasing local communityopposition.

Forced Assessment Validates Community Concerns

The community of Kala Dera, as well as the villages of Plachimada and Mehdiganj in India that areopposing Coca-Cola bottling plants, have enjoyed significant international support. And most

notable in lending support have been college and university students across the globe, and inparticular, the US, UK and Canada - some of Coca-Cola's larger markets.

Unusable Well in Kala Dera Showing Depleted Water Level


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One of the successful campaigns was at the prestigious University of Michigan in the US, which,after a sustained student-led campaign in which the India Resource Center represented the Indiaissues, placed theCoca-Cola company on probationon January 1, 2006. The university alsomandated that Coca-Cola agree to an independent assessment of its operations in India if it ever

wanted to do business with the university.The assessment, paid for by Coca-Cola and conducted by the Energy and Resources Institute(TERI), only looked at six bottling plants in India and was released in January 2008.Theassessment was a scathing indictmentof Coca-Cola's operations in India.Validating the concerns of the communities campaigning against Coca-Cola, the assessment notedthat Coca-Cola approached its operations in India from a "business continuity" perspective thatignored the impacts on the community.

Stop Using Groundwater in Kala Dera

Some of the most disturbing findings in the assessment concernedCoca-Cola's bottling plant inKala Dera.Confirming that Coca-Cola's bottling plant in Kala Dera operated in an "overexploited" groundwaterarea and the Coca-Cola's bottling plant had "significant impacts", the assessment noted that "theplant's operations in this area would continue to be one of the contributors to a worsening water

situation and a source of stress to the communities around."The assessment made four recommendations with regard to the Coca-Cola bottling plant in KalaDera, making it clear that Coca-Cola could no longer utilize the overexploited groundwaterresource in Kala Dera:

1. Transport water from the nearest aquifer that may not be stressed2. Store water from low-stress seasons3. Relocate the plant to a water-surplus area4. Shut down this facility

The community in Kala Dera, needless to say, welcomed the recommendations.Unfortunately, they still wait for Coca-Cola to make good on the recommendations made by theassessment that Coca-Cola itself paid for.

Coca-Cola's Response - Unethical andDishonest

Coca-Cola has had seven months to respond to the findings on Kala Dera. We have not seen muchaction on the part of Coca-Cola that address the concerns raised in the assessment. In fact, whatwe have seen much of, is an unethical and dishonest campaign by the Coca-Cola company in anattempt to misrepresent the issues.

Continued Misery in the Face of Certainty

Kala Dera lies in an overexploited groundwater area and access to water has been difficult.Summers are particularly intense in the area, and summers are when water shortages are mostacute.Ironically, summer months are also when Coca-Cola reaches its peak production, and it is in the

summer months that the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Kala Dera extracts the most water, makingalready existing water shortages even worse.
http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2005/2068.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2005/2068.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2008/1001.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2008/1001.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2008/1001.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/TERIkeyKalaDera.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/TERIkeyKalaDera.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/TERIkeyKalaDera.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/TERIkeyKalaDera.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/TERIkeyKalaDera.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/TERIkeyKalaDera.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2008/1001.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2005/2068.html


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At the very least, the Coca-Colacompany could have stoppedextraction of water thissummer, knowing very well the

conclusions of the assessment.With facts in hand, the Coca-Cola company has chosen tocontinue its operations,knowingly contributing to themisery of thousands of people.On the one hand, Coca-Cola

talks a good talk about being agood corporate citizen.Yet, it continues to depletegroundwater causing unduehardships to the communityeven after it has been told tostop doing so, that too by astudy funded by the companyitself.

CriminalNegligence orStraight

Incompetence?

Prior to locating a bottling plantin Kala Dera, Coca-Cola is

supposed to have conducted anEnvironmental ImpactAssessment that looks at a

variety of current conditionsand potential impacts if the plant is built and operated.The Coca-Cola company has refused to share the environmental impact assessment it conductedfor Kala Dera (or any other plants in India), citing "legal and strategic confidentiality" reasons.However, the Central Ground Water Board of India had already assessed the groundwater in andaround Kala Dera to be "overexploited" in 1998.The Coca-Cola company started operations in 2000 - two years after the Indian governmentagency had already found it to be "overexploited".Did the Coca-Cola company know that the groundwater was overexploited and still built andoperated its plant?If the company knew that the Kala Dera groundwater area was overexploited, then starting awater intensive plant borders on criminal negligence, if not criminal negligence itself.And how could the company, which describes itself as a "hydration" company, not know that theCentral Ground Water Board of India had already assessed the groundwater as overexploited?

Misrepresenting Facts

In reaching out to the media and the public regarding the scathing TERI assessment, the Coca-Cola company has misrepresented the facts on several occasions.

Coca-Cola Forced to Agree to Assessment

The Coca-Cola company says that it "voluntarily participated" in the assessment even though theUniversity of Michigan insisted that Coca-Cola agree to an assessment if it wanted to do businesswith the University of Michigan.

The company goes on further to state that "our voluntary participation in the TERI assessmentreflects our commitment to transparency and continuous improvement."

Farmer in Kala Dera Shows Increased Electric Bill from Pumping Water from Depleted

Groundwater


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If Coca-Cola were committed to transparency, we would suggest they make a good start bysharing the Environmental Impact Assessment that they conducted for Kala Dera and rest of thebottling plants in India.And as for their commitment to "continuous improvement", Coca-Cola should start with

implementing one of the four recommendations made by the assessment in regards to the Coca-Cola bottling plant at Kala Dera.

Coca-Cola Fails to Mention Shut Down PlantRecommendation

In its letter to the University of Michigan after the assessment, the company fails to mention thefourth recommendation made by the assessment - to shut down the bottling plant.

Coca-Cola Does Not Meet its Own Standards

In the same letter, the company states that their plants "on an overall basis are meeting our ownmore stringent internal standards."

One of the shocking findings of the assessment was that of the six plants surveyed, in not one didthe plant meet the Coca-Cola company standards for waste management, known as the TCCC

standards! What is the point of having Coca-Cola company standards if not a single plant meetsthem?

Coca-Cola Not in Compliance with Government Regulations

In the same letter, the company states that "its bottlers are in compliance with the standards ofrelevant India government and regulatory agencies."Again, the assessment found that the treated effluent discharge at none of the six plants surveyedmet all the standards of the relevant Indian government and regulatory agencies. The assessment

states that the treated effluent discharge at the plants "mostly met the effluent dischargerequirements".

Mostly, at least from the last definition we checked, does not mean all.

Corporate Social Responsibility - A Scam?

While there have been no genuine initiatives on the part of Coca-Cola to correct its mistakes inKala Dera, the Coca-Cola company has stepped up its corporate social responsibility spending toannounce to the world that it is a green and socially responsible company. Such an effort,however, rings hollow when it comes to India.

Rainwater Harvesting - Dilapidated and a Bluff

With great fanfare, the company continues to announce its rainwater harvesting initiatives inIndia, even going as far as to announce that the company will become "water neutral" in India by

2009.There are some serious concerns about Coca-Cola's claims on rainwater harvesting.


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In Kala Dera,the companyhas announcedthat it has

recharged fivetimes theamount ofwater it hasused. Whenasked to backit up with

numbers,Coca-Cola doesnot provideany. In fact, inthe letter tothe Universityof Michigan,Coca-Colastates that they

"will install measuring devices that will verify the amount of water recharged."If they do not have measuring devices installed to verify the amount of water recharged, how canthey make a claim of recharging five times the water that they have extracted?People across Rajasthan are well versed in rainwater harvesting, and many communities havebeen harvesting rainwater long before Coca-Cola started. In fact, the Coca-Cola company startedrainwater harvesting initiatives in India as a response to the growing campaigns against its watermismanagement.The community in Kala Dera has long maintained that Coca-Cola's rainwater harvesting structuresdo not work.Even the TERI assessment, which looked at Coca-Cola's CSR initiatives in Kala Dera, notes that "allthe recharge shafts that were randomly visited were found to be in dilapidated conditions.""Coca-Cola is bluffing people with its rainwater harvesting. The problem is that the rainfall in thearea is too low, and the amount of rainfalls fluctuates a lot from year to year and within everyyear. We get a maximum of 30 days of rains every year, and eighty percent of those rains come injust two or three days. Rainwater harvesting is simply not efficient," says Dr. M.S. Rathore, aprominent natural resource expert with the Institute for Development Studies in Jaipur whosework was also referenced by the assessment.

Finding dilapidated water recharge shafts, an intermittent, low and unpredictable rainfall pattern, aprominent hydrologist from the area saying it won't work, and Coca-Cola not even having installedwater recharge meters yet claiming that they have recharged five times the water they use -surely something is out of order.And it is based on their rainwater harvesting initiatives that the Coca-Cola company hasannounced that they will become water neutral in India by 2009- that they will recharge morewater than they use from the groundwater resource.

Thanks, but no thanks. Coca-Cola's rainwater harvesting systems are shoddy, their intentions evenmore suspect, and their claims preposterous.Indeed, if they are so confident about their rainwater harvesting initiatives, let them use just the

rainwater to meet all their production needs in India.Coca-Cola must follow the recommendations made by the TERI assessment with regard to KalaDera and immediately cease tapping any further into the groundwater resource.Until then, the community of Kala Dera and the International Campaign to Hold Coca-Cola

Accountable will continue to increase the pressure on the Coca-Cola company.

Coca-Cola Extracts Groundwater Even as Farmers and Community Left

Without Water

Coca-Cola Sign - "Kala Dera - A Dream" Next to Dilapidated Rainwater Recharge Shafts


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For Immediate Release

September 21, 2011San Francisco (September 21, 2011): The Coca-Cola company continues to operate

with arrogance and impunity in Indiacontinuing bottling operations in areaswhere the community is unable to meet its basic water needs.

In the latest government data obtained by the India Resource Center, groundwater

levels in Kala Dera have continued spiraling downwards, falling another 3.6 meters(11.8 feet) in just one year, between November 2009 and November 2010.

Coca-Colas bottling operations have had a spectacular impact on the groundwater

resources in the area.

In the 10 years before Coca-Cola started operations in Kala Dera (1990-2000),groundwater levels fell just 3.94 meters (12.9 feet).

In the 10 years since Coca-Cola started operations (2000-2010), groundwater

levels haveplummeted

25.35 meters(83.2 feet)!

Coca-Colastarted

operations in

Kala Dera in2000, eventhough the

areas

groundwaterreserves

were

declared as

overexploited

by the

government

in 1998.Coca-Cola should never have built their factory in Kala Dera in the first place,

said Mahesh Yogi of the Kala Dera Sangharsh Samiti, a local group spearheadingthe efforts against Coca-Cola. The right thing for Coca-Cola to do now is to shut

down the plant, especially since farmers do not have enough water because Coca-

Cola is taking too much water.

In 2008, astudyfinanced by Coca-Cola on the Kala Dera operations found that the

bottling plant was not sustainable and recommended that Coca-Cola shut down orrelocate the factory in Kala Dera because continued operations "would continue to

be one of the contributors to a worsening water situation and a source of stress to

the communities around."
http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/cokeimplicatedteri.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/cokeimplicatedteri.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/cokeimplicatedteri.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/cokeimplicatedteri.html


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Coca-Cola has ignored the recommendations of the study, and not surprisingly,

groundwater levels have continued plummeting in Kala Dera.

Instead, the Coca-Cola company has embarked on a highly ambitious publicrelations and corporate social responsibility campaign, claiming that they have

become water neutral in India, even though their own concept paper on waterneutrality acknowledges that it is impossible to do so.

The company has also made fantastical claims that it recharges about 1.3 billion

liters of groundwater annually in Kala Deraa claim that has been debunked bywater experts in the area because Kala Deras rainfall patterns would make it

impossible to recharge so much water.

Various visits by community members, journalists as well as the study team thatCoca-Cola financed have found many of Coca-Colas water conservation projectsto be in dilapidated conditions.

Coca-Cola could never have gotten away with such atrocious disregard for the

community if this bottling plant were operating in the US or European Union. Totake water away from people so that it can profit by selling sugar water is

criminal, said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center, an internationalcampaigning group.

Coca-Colas operations are also being challenged in other parts of India.

InMehdiganj,groundwater levels actually rose 8.95 metersonly to be nullified

after Coca-Cola started operations.

Coca-Cola Destroys Indian Villages, Despite Warning by Coca-Cola

Studyby Amit SrivastavaIndia Resource CenterMarch 9, 2009San Francisco:As the summer of 2009 approaches, the village of Kala Dera in north India isbracing itself for yet another season of acute water shortages - thanks largely to Coca-Cola.As it is, accessing water is a daunting task for the villagers of Kala Dera. Kala Dera is located inthe desert state of Rajasthan - one of the driest parts of India. Kala Dera has experienced eightyears of drought in the last twenty five years!

In 1998, the Central Ground Water Board, a government agency, classified the groundwater inKala Dera as overexploited - declaring that the existing demands on the groundwater were notsustainable.Yet two years later, in the year 2000, Coca-Cola started its bottling plant in Kala Dera.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened next.Groundwater levels dropped dramatically, and wells ran dry, farmers did not have enough water to

have successful crop yields, and women now had to walk miles longer just to access potable water.Over 60 villages in the vicinity of the Coca-Cola bottling plant felt the dramatic impacts once Coca-Cola started its operations in Kala Dera.According to government figures, the water tables in Kala Dera fell nearly 10 meters in just thefirst five years of Coca-Cola's operations!And to add insult to injury, Coca-Cola extracts the vast majority of the water in the summermonths - exactly when the water shortages are the most acute for the villagers, even withoutCoca-Cola.The deteriorating water conditions in Kala Dera could have been prevented quite easily.Coca-Cola should never have located its bottling plant in a drought prone area which had alreadybeen declared as overexploited by the government.It was malfeasance on the part of Coca-Cola to locate its plant in such a water-deficit area, and it

was a grave mistake on the part of the Indian government to allow the plant to be located in KalaDera.
http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/neutrality.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2011/1005.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2011/1005.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2011/1005.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/news/2011/1005.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/neutrality.html


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Community Allegations Confirmed by Coca-Cola

The community of Kala Dera has challenged the Coca-Cola bottling plant since 2003, making it

very clear that the company's operations had exacerbated the water crisis in the area, and thatCoca-Cola must shut down its plant.And the community assertions were confirmed in 2008, and that too by a study funded by the

Coca-Cola company itself!In 2006, the International Campaign Against Coca-Cola forced Coca-Cola to agree to anindependent assessment of its operations in India. The assessment - paid for by Coca-Cola - wasreleased in January 2008.

The assessment was ascathing indictmentof Coca-Cola's operations in India.The assessment, conducted by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), an ally of Coca-Cola,saved its strongest language for Kala Dera.The assessment confirmed that the Kala Dera "plant is located in a water-scarce, drought-pronearea" and that the water extraction by Coca-Cola has "significant impacts" on Kala Dera.The assessment made four recommendations to Coca-Cola for the Kala Dera plant - includingshutting down the plant - all of which made clear that Coca-Cola must not use the groundwater in

Kala Dera anymore.The four recommendations were:

1. Transport water from the nearest aquifer that may not be stressed2. Store water from low-stress seasons3. Relocate the plant to a water-surplus area4. Shut down this facility

Needless to say, the community of Kala Dera welcomed the recommendations. Meeting therecommendations - Coca-Cola not using the groundwater in Kala Dera - would mean significantlyless demand on the groundwater, which would ensure that the community needs for water as wellas the farmers needs for water were met first.One summer has already passed and Coca-Cola has continued to extract water from the Kala Deraaquifer, completely dismissing the recommendations of the study that it paid for itself!

Once again, the village of Kala Dera and surrounding villages have had to do with less water,resulting in extreme hardships to the community, and in particular the women and farmers.Such is the arrogance and impunity of Coca-Cola in India, and it is accompanied by a publicrelations spin that can be only described as bizarre and offensive.Responding to the media about shutting down the plant in Kala Dera, Coca-Cola India's CEO said,

"Walking away is the easiest thing we can do. That's not going to help that community buildsustainability."Instead, the Coca-Cola company has decided to support drip water irrigation in the area workingwith fifteen farmers! Yes, fifteen! Kala Dera itself has a population of 10,000 people, with upwardsof 80% engaged in agriculture!It is time, we think, to remind Coca-Cola that they werenot invited to build sustainable communities in India, andneither to support farming best practices. This is simplynot their expertise, and India will not be served well with

Coca-Cola advising us on sustainable development andagricultural best practices.It is time for Coca-Cola to acknowledge the conclusionfrom the assessment that the Kala Dera "plant'soperations in this area would continue to be one of thecontributors to a worsening water situation and a source ofstress to the communities around."If Coca-Cola is serious about sustainable communities, as it announces to everyone through its"Corporate Social Responsibility" initiatives, then the company would meet one of therecommendations made by the study it funded.Meeting both Coca-Cola's and the community's needs for water in Kala Dera are not sustainable.

One has to go, and it must be Coca-Cola.

TAKE ACTION!

SEND a FAXto the CEO ofCoca-Cola - RespectCommunities in India, ShutDown Kala Dera Plant!
http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/coketerifinding.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/coketerifinding.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/coketerifinding.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/action/faxcokeenglishfeb09.phphttp://www.indiaresource.org/action/faxcokeenglishfeb09.phphttp://www.indiaresource.org/action/faxcokeenglishfeb09.phphttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/coketerifinding.html


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Coca-Cola Destroys Indian Villages, Despite Warning by Coca-ColaStudy

by Amit SrivastavaIndia Resource CenterMarch 9, 2009

San Francisco:As the summer of 2009 approaches, the village of Kala Dera in north India isbracing itself for yet another season of acute water shortages - thanks largely to Coca-Cola.As it is, accessing water is a daunting task for the villagers of Kala Dera. Kala Dera is located inthe desert state of Rajasthan - one of the driest parts of India. Kala Dera has experienced eightyears of drought in the last twenty five years!In 1998, the Central Ground Water Board, a government agency, classified the groundwater inKala Dera as overexploited - declaring that the existing demands on the groundwater were notsustainable.Yet two years later, in the year 2000, Coca-Cola started its bottling plant in Kala Dera.It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened next.Groundwater levels dropped dramatically, and wells ran dry, farmers did not have enough water tohave successful crop yields, and women now had to walk miles longer just to access potable water.Over 60 villages in the vicinity of the Coca-Cola bottling plant felt the dramatic impacts once Coca-Cola started its operations in Kala Dera.

According to government figures, the water tables in Kala Dera fell nearly 10 meters in just thefirst five years of Coca-Cola's operations!And to add insult to injury, Coca-Cola extracts the vast majority of the water in the summermonths - exactly when the water shortages are the most acute for the villagers, even withoutCoca-Cola.The deteriorating water conditions in Kala Dera could have been prevented quite easily.Coca-Cola should never have located its bottling plant in a drought prone area which had alreadybeen declared as overexploited by the government.

It was malfeasance on the part of Coca-Cola to locate its plant in such a water-deficit area, and itwas a grave mistake on the part of the Indian government to allow the plant to be located in KalaDera.

Community Allegations Confirmed by Coca-Cola

The community of Kala Dera has challenged the Coca-Cola bottling plant since 2003, making itvery clear that the company's operations had exacerbated the water crisis in the area, and thatCoca-Cola must shut down its plant.And the community assertions were confirmed in 2008, and that too by a study funded by theCoca-Cola company itself!In 2006, the International Campaign Against Coca-Cola forced Coca-Cola to agree to anindependent assessment of its operations in India. The assessment - paid for by Coca-Cola - wasreleased in January 2008.The assessment was ascathing indictmentof Coca-Cola's operations in India.The assessment, conducted by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), an ally of Coca-Cola,saved its strongest language for Kala Dera.The assessment confirmed that the Kala Dera "plant is located in a water-scarce, drought-prone

area" and that the water extraction by Coca-Cola has "significant impacts" on Kala Dera.The assessment made four recommendations to Coca-Cola for the Kala Dera plant - includingshutting down the plant - all of which made clear that Coca-Cola must not use the groundwater inKala Dera anymore.

The four recommendations were:

1. Transport water from the nearest aquifer that may not be stressed2. Store water from low-stress seasons

3. Relocate the plant to a water-surplus area4. Shut down this facility

Needless to say, the community of Kala Dera welcomed the recommendations. Meeting the

recommendations - Coca-Cola not using the groundwater in Kala Dera - would mean significantly
http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/coketerifinding.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/coketerifinding.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/coketerifinding.htmlhttp://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2008/coketerifinding.html


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less demand on the groundwater, which would ensure that the community needs for water as wellas the farmers needs for water were met first.One summer has already passed and Coca-Cola has continued to extract water from the Kala Deraaquifer, completely dismissing the recommendations of the study that it paid for itself!

Once again, the village of Kala Dera and surrounding villages have had to do with less water,resulting in extreme hardships to the community, and in particular the women and farmers.Such is the arrogance and impunity of Coca-Cola in India, and it is accompanied by a publicrelations spin that can be only described as bizarre and offensive.Responding to the media about shutting down the plant in Kala Dera, Coca-Cola India's CEO said,"Walking away is the easiest thing we can do. That's not going to help that community buildsustainability."

Instead, the Coca-Cola company has decided to support drip water irrigation in the area workingwith fifteen farmers! Yes, fifteen! Kala Dera itself has a population of 10,000 people, with upwardsof 80% engaged in agriculture!It is time, we think, to remind Coca-Cola that they werenot invited to build sustainable communities in India, andneither to support farming best practices. This is simplynot their expertise, and India will not be served well withCoca-Cola advising us on sustainable development andagricultural best practices.

It is time for Coca-Cola to acknowledge the conclusionfrom the assessment that the Kala Dera "plant'soperations in this area would continue to be one of thecontributors to a worsening water situation and a source ofstress to the communities around."If Coca-Cola is serious about sustainable communities, as it announces to everyone through its"Corporate Social Responsibility" initiatives, then the company would meet one of therecommendations made by the study it funded.Meeting both Coca-Cola's and the community's needs for water in Kala Dera are not sustainable.One has to go, and it must be Coca-Cola.

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Communities in India, ShutDown Kala Dera Plant!
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A recent report by TERI on six Coca-Cola bottling plants in India confirms that the plants have been

located in water stressed areas and recommends that the plant in Kala Dera near Jaipur be closed

down or relocated

In a strong indictment of soft drinks major Coca-Cola in India, a report by The Energy and Resources

Institute (TERI) has recommended that one of its bottling plants in Kala Dera near Jaipur be either

closed down or relocated.

Citing widespread water shortages being experienced by villages around the Coca-Cola bottling

plant, the recent report by TERI recommends that the bottling plant should find alternative sources

of water, which TERI said could be quite a distance away (and therefore not practical), or relocate or

shut down the plant altogether.

The 500-page report titled 'Independent, Third Party Assessment of Coca-Cola Facilities in India', in

its specific recommendations on the Kala Dera bottling plant said, "What emerges, however, is that

the plant's operations in this area would continue to be one of the contributors to a worsening

water situation and a source of stress to the communities around."

The report takes the company to task for locating its bottling plants in already water stressed areas,

without much thought about the impact on communities. It validates the concerns of water scarcity

and pollution that have been raised by communities in Kala Dera, Mehdiganj etc. It notes that

farmers' rights to groundwater for farming must be respected and given precedence over industrial

demands for water, particularly in areas that have been declared critical or overexploited in terms of

groundwater resources.

The report points out the heavy pollution present in the immediate vicinity of the Coca-Cola bottling

plants and calls for additional studies. It shows that the Coca-Cola company has failed to meet its

own standards regarding waste management: "The presence of faecal coliform and several other

physico-chemical pollutants in the treated wastewater in almost all the plants calls for an urgent and


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stringent definition (and implementation) of standards and practices as well as source

identification."

In some plants, the report maintains, the company was not meeting the mandatory wastewaterdischarge standards of the pollution control board.

The report states that the company has hampered the TERI assessment by refusing to share the

Environmental Impact Assessment for any of the six plants studied. The report by TERI assessed only

six of Coca-Cola's 50 bottling plants in India.

Why these six plants were chosen remains unclear. Community activists would have expected to seethe Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada in Kerala, which has been shut down since March 2004,

also included because the Coca-Cola company is still trying to re-open the plant. Similarly, a

franchisee-operated Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ballia in Uttar Pradesh should have been included in

the assessment because community members found industrial waste scattered all across the plant

premises less than a year ago.

In a statement, Coca-Cola said, "TERI has observed that our plant in Kala Dera is a very small user of

water and therefore whether or not we are present in the area will have little impact on the water

levels. Also, we believe that we will be in a better position to serve the communities by being

present in Kala Dera than being out of it."

It also said, "As a business that depends on water, and has expertise in water resource management,

we are already making a net positive contribution to the water levels through the rainwater

harvesting structures that we have installed. We have already created a potential to recharge 15

times more water than we use. Going forward, we are exploring ways we can contribute to more

efficient use of water in irrigation."

However TERI's report does not say whether these water management efforts are proving beneficial.

Sources said that many of Coca-Cola's rain water harvesting plants were not yet functional.

The report is the outcome of a high-profile student-led campaign in the US, Canada and the UK. Over

20 colleges and universities have removed Coca-Cola products as a result of the international

campaign which aims to hold Coca-Cola accountable for creating water shortages and pollution in

the areas where it operates in India.


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The University of Michigan had placed the Coca-Cola company, which has the sole contract in the

university premises, on probation in 2006 and had asked for an independent assessment of its

operations in India.

Reacting to the report, Rameshwar Kudi of the Kala Dera Sangharsh Samiti, the local group that has

led the campaign for the plant's closure, said, "We are absolutely thrilled that finally the source of so

many of our problems, the Coca-Cola bottling plant, will be shut down."

Another activist, Nandlal Master of Lok Samiti said, "The report confirms what we have been saying

all along. The groundwater situation in Mehdiganj is deteriorating, and we are not going to wait till

we also become like Kala Dera. The company must stop its operations immediately."

It remains to be seen how the Coca-Cola company will respond to the recommendations by TERI. But

activists in India have vowed to ensure that Coca-Cola meets the recommendations for Kala Dera.

Pleased with TERI's assessment, Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Centre, an international

campaigning group said, "Enough is enough. Now even Coca-Cola's ally in India has found the

company not up to the mark when it comes to protecting water resources and preventing pollution."The India Resource Centre had opposed the choice of TERI as the "independent" assessor of Coca-

Cola because the two groups have worked together in the past: Coca-Cola has funded TERI and co-

organised Earth Day. TERI had named Coca-Cola among the most responsible companies in India in

2001.

"The Coca-Cola company is part of the UN Global Compact and as a result, it has agreed to uphold

the precautionary principle," Srivastava continued. "The Coca-Cola company must apply the

precautionary principle and cease its operations in water stressed areas as well as areas withexcessive pollution around Coca-Cola plants in India."

The precautionary principle states that "where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage,

lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to

prevent environmental degradation."

[B]Coca-Cola's response to the TERI report[/B]


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"Our engagement with TERI is another important step we are taking to ensure that our water

management practices are consistently improving and among the best in the world. The TERI report

confirms that we meet Indian regulations and on an overall basis our own TCCC standards, which are

often more stringent. It also confirms that we are on the right track with many of the improvements

we've made over the last few years. However, it identified some areas where we can do better. As a

result, we are strengthening our plant siting requirements, our monitoring capabilities for both

rainwater harvesting and wastewater treatment and our guidelines for source protection and

operating in water scarce areas. We also are expanding our efforts to work with local communities

to ensure sustainability of the local water resource and have launched The Coca-Cola India

Foundation for Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth. We will continue to work closely

with stakeholders in our local communities to support community initiatives."

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