The BBC’s Environment correspondent, Richard Black, has a really fascinating
post on water use in India. According to Black, the U.S.’s
NASA Grace Mission has discovered that the country’s water-table is falling by about 4cm (1.6 inches) per year in its north-west region, which includes Delhi.
The finding, published in the journal
Nature, indicates that “rainfall has not changed, and water use is too high, mainly for farming.” According to the BBC, the finding came out just two days after the Indian government issued a warning about the potential of a water crisis.
According to Sukhminder Singh, a farmer from Bhoondri in the State of Punjab: “Now our children come home and explain to us how to make proper use of water, for example while brushing teeth one should use a cup of water rather than letting water taps flow freely. This will lead to proper water management in the village community.”
For our efforts, we were awarded the Punjab Government’s Award for Environmental Excellence in 2005.
Dairy farming and milk processing are also important areas where Nestlé is making a positive impact in India. Nestlé works with farmers in the Moga and Samlakha Milksheds through our Farmer Water Management Awareness Program to create awareness about the need to conserve water and optimize use in agriculture. By providing technical support on new irrigation techniques in agriculture, rain water harvesting, ground water recharge, optimum and use of water for irrigation, and water management on dairy farms, Nestlé has helped to keep dairy waste water management at the farmer level as well as set up biogas and Vermi-compost production units.
The proper management of water is something that Nestlé takes very seriously as our business depends on it. Please see our
Water Management Report for more information about how Nestlé creates shared value in the communities where we operate.
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