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Activists demand Coke stops stealing water

Local activists demanded Coca-Cola to stop draining water from some of the world’s poorest communities at a Nov. 18 demonstration in Pioneer Courthouse square. The demonstration is part of an international campaign by Corporate Accountability International. Similar events are being held across the U.S. in conjunction with a major march across northeastern India.

ITS THE REAL THING...
Coca-Cola and the bottled water industry

Coca-Cola dominates half the global soft drink market offering 300 brands — including Sprite, Dr. Pepper and Minute Maid juices in over 200 countries.

In 2002, Coca-Cola’s water business skyrocketed by 68 percent. The company distributes three bottled water brands — Dasani, Dannon and Evian — collectively creating with Coca-Cola a $38.4 billion business.

The bottled water industry that Coca-Cola dominates is booming. In 30 years, the volume of bottled water purchased and sold increased by over 7,000 percent.

The industry remains unregulated, resulting in disturbing finds like traces of arsenic, chloroform and other impurities in bottled water. Coca-Cola was recently criticized in London for marketing Dasani as “pure” when they were actually using tap water.

Government testing of Coca-Cola in India revealed high concentrations of pesticides and insecticides 30 times the standards allowed by the European Union. Some Indian farmers are reportedly using Coca-Cola as a pesticide on their crops.


Corporate Accountability International estimates at least five Indian communities near Coca-Cola bottling plans are suffering severe water shortages and widespread health problems due to the beverage giant siphoning off massive amounts of local groundwater. The water drawn for factory operations by the company’s Gandhre plant is enought to serve 75,000 villagers daily. In Plachimada, Coca-Cola extracted hundreds of thousands of gallons of clean water through electric pumps, leaving hundreds of local wells dry and forcing community members to travel great distances to meet their daily water needs. As clean drinking water becomes more scarce, water riots and water-related murders are becoming daily occurences in India.

India’s growing water crisis has not, however, slowed down the companies quest for Indian water. Shortly after taking over as Coca-Cola’s new CEO, E. Neville Isdell flew to India to meet with Indian executives and government officials. Isdell reportedly denied he was traveling to India until the moment he arrived.

Coca-Cola stays busy exerting political influence at home as well. The company employs a lobbying staff that is an enormous presence in Washington D.C. In 2003, Coca-Cola reportedly spent $1.7 million on federal lobbying. In 2004, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Bottling and Coca-Cola Enterprises spent nearly $300,000 in PAC contributions.

Earlier in the day, Corporate Accountability International activists organized students at Portland State University, resulting in over 100 telephone calls be made to Isdell’s office, demanding Coca-Cola to stop draining water from some of the world’s poorest communities. Similar actions took place across the nation while in India, villagers and activists marched from one Coca-Cola plant to the next, a distance for some of over 150 miles.

As this issue goes to press, organizers are planning another action in Portland aimed at the Coca-Cola bottling plant near Lloyd Center. They are planning additional actions in the coming weeks.

In 20 years, more than two-thirds of the world’s people are expected to suffer from lack of access to water. In the meantime, water has become a $400 billion growth industry. Coca-Cola is doing nothing to help alleviate the world water supply problem, but rather through its blind pursuit of profits is, along with its corporate colleagues, threatening water supplies around the world. The enormity of this challenge is not, however, discouraging grassroots activists who believe people can exert enough pressure to change corporate behavior.

To learn more about this issue, contact Caroline Keicher at 503-231-4181 x 310 or keicher@greencorps.org

 

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Last Updated: December 7, 2004