In a collaboration that could have a far-reaching impact and benefit for industry and the environment, the CII northern region and Coca-Cola India on Tuesday announced the launch of “Conserve”, a water conservation and management project, to mark the observance of World Water Day 2008. Conserve will promote industry engagement on rainwater harvesting and community water conservation programmes. It will not only create awareness but also build capacity amongst industry. The project will be implemented over a period of one year in northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
“To meet the growing requirement of water and to be counted as a development oriented nation, it is imperative not only to develop new water sources but also conserve, recycle and reuse water wherever possible,” said Deep Kapuria, chairman CII northern region. “It has been shown that conservation of water through rain water harvesting and artificial ground water recharge can generate about 125 km cubic per year of additional water,” he added.
Elaborating on the project campaign activities, Kapuria said, “Basically, these would be of three types. Firstly, we would undertake a policy campaign, as the Indian water laws have remained weak and not kept pace with global practices. We will undertake documentation of the best practices in the world and evolve guidelines and modalities on how they could be implemented in the Indian context. Secondly, we will create innovative models and demonstrate them to corporates and thirdly, we will assist in implementation of Central and state government programmes.”
This will be primarily to demonstrate what is achievable presently and set up minimum benchmarks in different regions through involvement of corporates, NGOs, so as to ensure a minimum quality of implementation in government programmes.”
Deepak Jolly, vice-president, public affairs and communications, Coca-Cola India Ltd said, “Our immediate focus will be on watershed-based co-management of water by industries and local communities. To achieve this, we will network with corporate organisations and resource organisations for awareness generation, organise state level/zonal awareness workshops and conferences, involve corporate management in the initiatives taken under the project and facilitate linkages among existing service providers to work together on water conservation.”