Pepsi denies charges of water extraction in Kerala

Cola major Pepsico today denied the charge that its plant in Pudussery in Palakkad district has been causing depletion of ground water in the arid area by over extraction of water.

Reacting to the report of the Kerala Assembly's Subject Committee in this regard, a company release said an independent study by a renowned institute last year had found that the impact of Pepsico's Palakkad plant on depleting ground water level in the area was "insignificant" and that the plant had been utilising on 6.7% of the total annual water consumption in the area.

Through innovative recycling and recharging techniques the plant had been able to save about 200 million litre of water in the last four years and had brought down the use by 60%.
    
The water saving initiatives of the plant had been studied by various global and national agencies and it had received awards such as Golden Peacock Environment Management award and CII's award for excellence in water management, it said.

Pepisico's water conservation initiatives in the country had been able to save 2.5 million litres of water in the last five years.

The state assembly’s committee on Irrigation and Power had in its report yesterday asked the state government to restrict the use of water by Pepsi plant at 3.4 lakh litres a day.