In the United Kingdom, we operate in areas of water stress in the South East of England, specifically within the Thames and Anglian River basins. We have three manufacturing facilities in these areas (Edmonton, Sidcup and Milton Keynes). In addition, some of the sugar beet used in our beverages in Great Britain is sourced from the Anglian River basin, in Norfolk. To address these risks, we invested approximately $100,000 to create a three-year partnership in 2012, with the Coca-Cola Company and WWF-UK. This partnership, aligned with the WWF-UK's Freshwater Strategy, focused on improving the state of the River Nar and the River Cray, in the Southeast of England. In the Nar, we worked with the Norfolk Rivers Trust and local farmers to prevent agricultural pollution from reaching the river by changing practices on over 2,000 acres of land. We have replenished over 286,000 m3 over the course of the three-year project, restoring 3.3 km of river habitat. In the Cray, we worked with the North West Kent Countryside Partnership, volunteers from our Sidcup manufacturing operation, and the local community to improve a four-km stretch of the river. Sophisticated computer modeling was used to assess the volume of water with improved habitat over a total of a 2km length of the river. We estimate that the work done will replenish 1 million litres/ year annually. We are using what we have learned from the partnership to promote good water stewardship nationally and to work with the government to support the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. The lessons learned from this project have been shared and have helped shape UK water abstraction policy. We are currently working with WWF-UK and The Coca-Cola Company to understand how we can build on the work and extend the project to other areas in the East Anglian basin.

Project Results

Local farmers and communities in each of these communities.