Water Efficiency
Water efficiency is a top priority for MillerCoors because of the impact it has in how we run our business. It is vital that we manage water efficiently for local supply issues and to realize our overall sustainable development goals.
Using Less, Reusing More.
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Water efficiency is essential at three of our eight major breweries because they are located in water-scarce or water-stressed areas. We monitor our water usage against units of production, and conduct performance comparisons across our own breweries as well as with other brewers.
To use less water at the same level of beer production, we have to make more beer without using more water. In 2010, we used approximately 250 million gallons less water than we did in 2009. Part of the reason for using less was a significant reduction in beer production at our largest brewery. While this means our overall 2010 water efficiency ratio came in just above the 2008 baseline, at 4.1 to 1, we are pleased that three of our breweries approached or met the target ratio of 3.5 to 1 in 2010.
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Definitions
Water-scarce: 500-1000 cubic meters of available fresh water per person per year. Our California brewery is in a water-scarce region.
Water-stressed: 1000-1700 cubic meters of available fresh water per person per year. Our Texas brewery is in a water-stressed region.
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We continue to apply best practices to all our breweries and remain committed to reaching our 2015 goal. Some of the best practices we are investigating include:
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Installing equipment in our Milwaukee brewery to cool and reuse water for bottle pasteurization
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Installing a water-efficient pasteurizer at the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company in Chippewa Falls
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A trial with new cleaning technology at our Georgia brewery that will enhance sanitization with less water in our draft beer filling areas
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A turf replacement project for the grounds around our California brewery to significantly reduce irrigation needs
Our SAM score at the end of the 12-month period ending March 31, 2011 was 3.2, a full level higher than the 2.2 in the prior 12-month period. We achieved this through a number of initiatives, including completion of formal water source vulnerability assessments in our eight major breweries.
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Learn more about our Water Stewardship Strategy
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2015 Water Goal
Achieve a water efficiency ratio of 3.5 barrels of water to 1 barrel of beer.
How will you help conserve water?