You Can't Fudge This Sludge

UGLY SCENE: Waste from Pepsi's Paravai plant dumped in the Kondaimaari canal

In all, PepsiCo India has 37 bottling units of which 17 are owned and operated by PepsiCo and 20 by franchisees.In Coca Cola's case, 26 plants are owned and operated by the company and 30 handled by "contract packers". The amount of water used by these plants is phenomenal. In Plachimada, of the 6 lakh litres extracted daily, only 1.5 lakh litres go into the bottles. Cyriac confirms such 1:4 water usage-wastage levels. It was this guzzling of groundwater that led to an agitation by the adivasis at Plachimada.

And it is a similar concern that resulted in the forming of a joint action committee in Sivaganga district of southern Tamil Nadu well ahead of the setting up of a contract packer unit in Padamathur. The operation of the Coke plant by Sakthi Sugar Mills, owned by industrialist Pollachi Mahalingam, has been delayed owing to the six-month-long struggle by farmers, traders, social and women's self-help groups. Says M. Arjunan, one of the convenors of the JAC, "The basic issue here is extraction of water from a pipeline directly drawn from the Vaigai riverbed. We are against the commercialisation and privatisation of water."

In 1988, when Sakthi Sugars was set up, the government permitted it to draw water up to 49 lakh litres per day. So feudal 'swadeshi' industrialists were exploiting the groundwater well before the mncs came in. While Coke and Pepsi have become convenient targets, Indian businesses continue to run rampant. For the locals, bores in the Vaigai riverbed are the source of water for more than 3.5 lakh people in Sivaganga, Manamadurai and Thiruppuvanam towns and 83 villages.

Another pattern seems to be emerging here. Coca Cola has been entering into contract packer agreements with locally powerful industrialists. Sugar mills that are not doing too well offer an easy entry point. At Sattupalli village in Khammam district of AP, Coke's contract packer is Sri Sarvaraya Sugars . In Padamathur, Sakthi Sugars owes farmers payments worth Rs 40 crore. So doing business with the cola giants makes sense. Last year, Sakthi sold sugar worth Rs 40 crore to Coca Cola. This year they hope to touch Rs 60 crore.

But the crucial question is: how much does Coke or Pepsi pay for the water they extract? In Tamil Nadu, officials say one litre comes for 2 to 4 paise. In Kerala, according to the Ground Water Authority's executive engineer, Palakkad division, P.C. Chako, Pepsico has been buying water at Rs 10.60 for 1,000 litres. The market price for a litre of branded mineral water is Rs 12. Says Chunkath, "We do not have any laws on groundwater extraction that distinguish between industrial use and use by the beverages industry. In Europe they do not allow any industry to draw groundwater. Only surface water can be used." But Coke and Pepsi are hardly the only ones to blame. As long as local bleaching and dyeing units and the sugar industry exploit water resources with a shrugging indifference to environmental concerns, the problem will remain.