Access to clean water for handwashing continues to be very important in the Philippines’ campaign against COVID-19. For people in big urban centers, the safety of handwashing comes easy and without much thought as water flows freely on tap. But for some remote communities, people need to take risky and long journeys to collect water for their families.

Despite the country being surrounded by large bodies of water, the irony is that one in 10 Filipinos still do not have access to the water resources necessary to sustain simple activities like handwashing, cooking, and cleaning.

Coca-Cola Philippines, the country’s leading beverage company, is therefore taking seriously its commitment to make a greater impact on communities with its 2030 water strategy. Water stewardship has long been a business imperative for Coca-Cola, but the company aims to do more to increase water use efficiency in the production of its beverages and to help communities address local water resource challenges such as the availability of clean water.

Coca-Cola’s global 2030 Water Security Strategy focuses on three priorities involving operations, communities, and watersheds: Reducing shared water challenges around the world, enhancing community water resilience, and improving the health of priority watersheds.

Through its social investment arm, Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, the company is also giving back to the communities and nature with long-term water-driven initiatives. Since 2011, the Foundation’s Agos Program has coordinated with local partners in making safe water accessible to underserved communities.

In recognition of its industry-leading water management practices, Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) – the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in the country – was recently awarded best in Water Resource Management by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) during its first Europa 2020 awards.

The citation for CCBPI’s intensive and comprehensive water efficiency programs, which it applies in the operations of all of its 20 plants, covers water-saving initiatives – smart design for optimal bottle washing, reducing unnecessary backwashing, recovering and reusing water for maintenance tasks – and its use of advanced technologies. The latter includes the company’s state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facilities that process used water to a quality that is viable for return to the ecosystem.

The company continues to strengthen its water efficiency in all of its bottling facilities. In 2020, this translated to a 31 percent decrease in absolute water consumption and an improvement in its water use ratio, or the amount of water used per liter of beverage produced. Its top performing plants in terms of water efficiency include its manufacturing sites in Davao del Sur, Misamis Oriental, and Bacolod.