The Emerging Water Crisis

Usage estimates can vary widely. The Water Footprint Network, a nonprofit research group that works with companies and governments on conservation issues, estimates it takes 170 to 310 liters of water to produce a half liter of a typical sugar-sweetened soda (340 to 620:1 ratio). The ingredients needed for one cup of brewed coffee require 140 liters of water, while 1 liter of beer requires 300 liters, from hops field to mug.

The fact is that drinkable water sources are limited: Only 2.5 percent of the world’s water supply is freshwater, and two-thirds of that is locked up in glaciers. Much of the accessible freshwater is polluted and quality is deteriorating worldwide. At present usage rates, global demand for water will exceed viable resources by 40 percent by 2030, according to McKinsey & Company. Water scarcity is already impacting beverage and food companies, particularly in drought-stricken areas.

Coca-Cola, for example, scrapped plans in April 2015 to build an $81-million bottling facility in southern India after farmers complained about strains on local groundwater supplies. J.M. Smucker raised prices on Folger’s K-Cup coffee packs to offset the effects of Brazil’s worst drought in decades. Food producers are likewise impacted: Campbell Soup Co. saw a 28 percent profit decline in its California-based carrot division in early 2015 due, in part, to droughts followed by heavy rains. Unilever, whose brands include Lipton, estimated that natural disasters linked to climate change, including water scarcity, food price increases, and reduced productivity, cost the company about $400 million annually.

“Water risks are already affecting corporate income statements and balance sheets” because of operational disruptions and limits on growth, concludes a recent study by Ceres, a nonprofit group that advises institutional investors on environmental issues. Of 31 publicly traded major food companies Ceres studied in 2015, 90 percent cited access to water as a “material risk” in their 10-K financial filings. “Our companies are deeply involved in ensuring the sustainability of clean water sources for all,” ABA’s Dermody explains. “And our water resource managers work with environmental groups and water authorities nationwide to improve watersheds and aquifers, and will continue to do so.”

Navigating the Quality Risks

When it comes to water quality, EPA, state, and local agencies have jurisdiction over municipal drinking water (tap water) while FDA regulates bottled drinking water and manufactured beverages, including flavored water and nutrient-added water beverages. FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) standards for bottled water include requiring producers to process, bottle, hold, and transport bottled water under sanitary conditions; protect water sources from bacteria, chemicals, and other contaminants; use QC processes to ensure the bacteriological and chemical safety of the water; and sample and test both source and final product for contaminants.

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requires beverage manufacturers to ensure the quality of all ingredients, including water. Large beverage manufacturers became subject to FSMA’s cGMP, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food rule in September 2016, says FDA spokesperson Evelyn Pereira. (Juice manufacturers are subject to their own Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, or HACCP, regulations and are not bound by FSMA preventive controls requirements.) However, it wasn’t until August that FDA issued draft guidance for industry compliance with the FSMA preventive controls rule.

“This is good, but facilities amenable to FSMA preventative control rules were trying to be prepared for enforcement beginning in September,” notes Craig Henry, PhD, vice president of business development, Decernis LLC. “Industry still desperately needs commodity-specific guidance for human food, and water is the single most common ingredient in food products around the world,” he tells Food Quality & Safety.