Corporations must collaborate with governments on solutions to water scarcity
-President Jagdeo
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday lauded Banks DIH Limited and beverage manufacturer Coca Cola for their corporate environmental responsibility in ensuring all waste water from the manufacture of the iconic drink in Guyana is treated and made safe for disposal into the environment with the commissioning of a waste water treatment plant.
In addition, he called for corporations to partner with government to find environmental solutions in a world that is changing because of the effects of climate change.
As such, the plant, built at a cost of US$900,000, will ensure that Banks DIH Limited, as the local bottler of Coca Cola, is compliant with the global beverage company’s environmental policies governing waste water. The cost of the facility was equally financed between Banks DIH Limited and Coca-Cola Company.
“It is important that we look at how we treat effluent. But also we have to be concerned with a bigger strategy, how we manage sources too,” he said.
“I am pleased that Coco Cola is looking at this, not just here, but globally; because these companies that produce soft drinks and liquor and everything else, [use] 99 percent water, so you have to also factor this into your cost,” he said.
“If we don’t manage it properly, it may affect the way companies which use a lot of water operate, and it may [affect] their cost structure too,” the president said. He spoke of the importance of companies partnering with governments to solve this problem.
“I am here…with the hope that today represents a shift in the thinking of many local companies, a shift from the thinking that we can operate in any fashion in the new world,” the president said.
He noted that from all of the data available, water management will be critical in this century. “We have seen the impact of unsustainable carbon emission levels on our world. If those levels continue, we are heading for catastrophe,” he said.
The president noted that a lot of attention has been brought to this issue because of the seminal work of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and academies of science around the world. He said these were followed up by renowned British economist Lord Nicholas Stern in his review on the economics of climate change.
He noted that one percent of global GDP is required to fix the problem that climate change poses. “If we defer fixing it now, in 20 – 30 years’ time we may need as much as five percent global GDP to fix the problem,” he said.
“In Guyana, because of our Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), we have a national consciousness and awareness of the impact of climate change on the world, particularly in light of the enhanced disasters we have faced and because of their grassroots impact,” the president said. “We are aware of that impact. What most people are not aware of is that scientists have forecast that by 2030, some 80 percent of the world’s people will suffer from some form of potable water shortage,” he said.
“In 20 years, we are told, many people will not have access to potable water, and even now, many of the think tanks are predicting that the next set of wars will be fought over resources, particularly water,” he said. “So, it is clear that water management, the use of water, will be a critical challenge for all the countries of the world in this century. And that task cannot be one of the future. We simply don’t have time. We have to start now,” he said.
He said although Guyana’s per capita emissions are less than two tons, “we suffer from consequences of a global concentration of greenhouse gases that far outstrips our contribution to this problem.”
The stressing of water resources around the world may have less of a localised impact but it must have an impact on the countries of the world, he said.
“We may not have a shortage of water. But an issue that has been on our policy-making agenda for a while is salt water intrusion into our water table,” President Jagdeo said. “We had one study done [and it revealed that] some movement of salt water [could pervade] our water table because the sea is right up to the coast and most of our people live along the coast,” he said.
“The more water that we extract from our reservoirs here the greater the chance of salt water intruding into our water supply here along the coast,” he said, adding that the consequences to industrial and domestic users of water could be catastrophic.
He said that the cost of water production is very high and far outstrips the price that consumers pay. “In Guyana, we have not been shy of saying that without the government subsidy, the price of water would have been significantly higher,” he said.
“In our planning process, we have predicted that the world cannot continue the same way. High carbon activities are going to be uncompetitive activities in the future, because they will be a sin tax or price for carbon content. And therefore to the extent that you very early start to generate new ideas and industries, and make your [operations] greener, then in the future, when there is that shift to penalising carbon content, then your products will be competitive locally and globally. So it is good economic sense,” he explained.
In his address to the gathering, General Manager, Coca- Cola, Mr. Jeremy Faa, thanked the representatives from Banks DIH and other partners for their efforts towards making the project a reality.
He explained that since Banks started bottling operations for Coca Cola in 1991, the company has been committed to bringing economic and social development to the people of Guyana.
“The Coca Cola system is about bringing about positive change in the communities in which they operate, and this Water Treatment Plant is a great example of the efforts made by the dedicated men and women of the bottling partner who are responsible for implementing so many of the shared plans,” he stated.
In addition, Faa pointed out that the Coca Cola Company has a system wide framework, referred to as ‘Live Positively’, which is built on the commitment to making a positive influence on the world.
The focus of the projects is on environmental aspect, water, recycling, and managing carbon emissions.
As to the importance of focusing on water conservation and quality, he emphasized that the resource is key to sustainability and is the most important ingredient in the all Coca Cola produced beverages.
“Water is also critical to the economic health and prosperity of the communities we serve; if the communities we serve are not sustainable in themselves we do not have a sustainable business,” he stressed.
Continuing, the General Manager explained that in 2007, the company set a goal to return to the community an amount of water equivalent to that used in the production of their  beverages, with the aim of establishing a truly water sustainable business on the global scale.
In order to achieve this, they focused on three specific objectives: reducing the amount of water used in the production of beverages, recycling water used in the manufacturing process and returning it to the environment at a level that supports aquatic life, and the replenishing water in the communities through various projects.
Alluding to the success to date, Faa said, “We have reduced the amount of water used in the production of beverages in the Caribbean by eight percent … the company also has more than 130 projects in 50 countries with partners such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF), USAID, and many other companies.”
He emphasised that the commissioning of the waste water treatment plant is evidence of one of the Coca Cola commitments coming to life in Guyana.
He stated, “With the inauguration of the waste water treatment plant, the Coca Cola system underlines its commitment to the communities of Guyana with the capacity to return to the environment up to 275,000 litres of water per day.”
The Coca Cola representative thanked the Government of Guyana, Banks DIH and other industry leaders for the support rendered towards the realisation of the project.
Meanwhile Chairman of Banks DIH, Mr. Clifford Reis, emphasised the importance of sustainable practices in the wake of the effects of man-made climate change.
He explained that an environment that is cared for and nurtured is everyone’s concern and “if we disregard this reality, we do so at our own peril.”
In light of this fact, he revealed that Banks DIH Limited has been practicing environmental awareness for a very long time.
Alluding to the benefits of such a facility, he said, “Within the context of developing Guyana, the treatment plant will be capable of treating the effluent emanating from the plant, which will ensure that the environment is protected even further into the future.”
As to the cost of the plant, Reis noted that the success of the project required a sizeable investment, which was shared by Banks DIH and the Coca Cola Company.
He expressed gratitude to Coca Cola for their role in protecting the environment and fostering greater awareness of the need of sustainability, and called on other companies to act in the same manner.
Reis explained, “The plant will effectively treat effluent and reduce all residue, chemicals and compounds to the levels internationally acceptable for depositing in the [country’s] rivers and streams to sustain aquatic and plant life.”
In closing, the chairman stressed that the plant in no way adds quantifiable figures to the company’s profit and loss statement, but will serve to add intrinsic value to the company’s reputation as a good corporate citizen and a responsible neighbour.
DSC 0901/Banks Water Plant/All Photos/Graphics    pics by Cullen Bess-Nelson
Caption: President Bharrat Jagdeo, General Manager of Coca Cola Company Jeremy Faa (left), and Chairman and Managing Director of Banks DIH Limited Clifford Reis, share a light moment as they unveil the plaque at the commissioning of the new Coca Cola Water Treatment Plant yesterday.