In 2010, we established the MillerCoors Water Advisory Board: a cross-functional, multi-disciplined advisory team that provides direction and exercises governance over the safety and quality of the water used by our people and our production processes. In order to better understand the availability of water and how we use it, we also launched a Water Source Vulnerability Assessment project.

The project's activities included:

• Completing baseline assessments of watershed risks at each brewery over the next ten years;

• Identifying potential actions to mitigate risks; and

• Aggregating knowledge regarding the various watersheds into a system-wide process for analyzing risks and identifying mitigation opportunities for future planning

We completed the baseline assessments in 2010.  The following eight areas were studied for each watershed:
 

Brewery Water Use and Demand
Evaluation of the water use ratio trends and use relative to our goals and other users in the watershed.

Water Availability and Reliability
Assessment of availability of source water (current or alternative) in quantity necessary to determine if in quantity necessary to meet current and projected water demands.

Climate Change
Analysis of regional climate change studies or plans to evaluate potential impacts on water availability or quality.

Water Quality
Examination of water treatment requirements and quality of water within the watershed.

Wastewater Treatment and Discharge
Consideration of impact of discharged wastewater on watershed and challenges with meeting discharge limits.

Regulatory Pressure
Evalutation of potential risk that can be driven by the degree to which water withdrawal or discharge is regulated.

Water Cost
Estimation of projected escalation over the next ten years.

Social & Media
Analysis of sensitivities of the “local” community to aspects of water use and discharge.
 

We expect to report further on this issue in the years ahead.