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Based on a study conducted by the World Resources Institute, 40 to 80 percent of the Philippines’ total water supply could be gone by 2040. Undeniably, this should be a cause for serious concern.
On top of this, according to global nonprofit Water.org, 52 percent of Filipinos lack access to a reliable, safely managed source of water, even as 39 percent lack access to safe home sanitation, which is related to water availability.
In this situation, everyone should do their part in preserving and protecting our water sources, especially big companies who have the resources to roll out programs in addressing this environmental issue. As a food and beverage manufacturer, water is one of the most important resources for Nestlé PH. Over the years, in response to the situation at hand, the company has driven a range of initiatives to conserve water.
Factories. In 2022, the company reduced water usage at its factories by using high-efficiency equipment designs; improving production processes and the condensation recovery rate; and employing effluent recycling and process clean water recovery, and recycling systems. Effluent recycling, in particular, involves treating factory wastewater to make it clean and reusable for other purposes. Process clean water recovery and recycling retrieve clean water from production processes, to be used for secondary applications without needing to go through the water treatment system. Factories also make use of rainwater collection as a source of freshwater to be used for manufacturing processes. As a result of these efforts, the company was one of the top three markets contributing to Nestlé’s global water savings last year.
Nestle factory in the Philippines
Agricultural supply chain. Beyond its factories, Nestlé Philippines is advocating responsible water use in its agricultural supply chain which includes coffee farmers and their communities. Under the Nescafé Plan it has distributed metal drums and pipes to farmers to create a rainwater catchment system for their coffee farms. They are also taught regenerative agriculture practices such as cover cropping and mulching to conserve soil moisture which is important during the summer season, as well as rainwater harvesting to serve domestic water needs especially in their households.
Watersheds. In watershed rehabilitation, the company continues to support the conservation of the Ipo Watershed, a vital link in the Angat-Umiray-Ipo Watershed that supplies 98 percent of Metro Manila’s water. Since the start of the project in 2016, 175 hectares of denuded land have already been reforested, with 64,050 trees grown in the watershed.
The road to protecting our water resources is far from over and all of us have a role to play. To know more on how one can protect the environment, here are some articles:
- 5 everyday items and their costs on the environment
- WATCH: Indigenous people and their mission to protect our forests
- 5 environmental orgs you can join to save the environment
