CII Conference on "Water Stewardship in Food & Beverage Sector”
29th May 2024, Hotel Le-Meridien, New Delhi
The food and beverage industry plays a crucial role in global water stewardship. Therefore, it is the responsibility of industry to take decisive action towards water stewardship. Against this backdrop, a conference on “Water Stewardship in Food & Beverage Sector” was organised by CII with the aim to enhance the competitiveness of Food & Beverage Industry by coming together to share knowledge, collaborate, and innovate.
The first of its kind, CII Conference on Food & Beverage Sector, highlighted some of the pertinent issues, challenges and solutions specific to water and focused on opportunities that exist to improve productivity and quality standards while also find ways to reduce costs.
The conference showcased opportunities to improve productivity by leveraging cutting- edge innovation & technology, adopting standards and collaborative actions for sustainable water management in the sector and marked a significant step towards achieving these goals and underscores collective commitment to sustainable water management.
Focus Area
- Water Stewardship: Role of Policies, Governance and Institutions
- Sustainability: Role of Technology and Collaborative Approaches
- Water, Climate, Food Security Good Practices
Discussion
- By prioritizing water stewardship, organizations can contribute to a more sustainable future while reaping significant environmental, economic, social, and reputational benefits.
- Industry needs to be conscious of the watershed in which their plant is located. This will enable industry to undertake measures to ensure operational sustainability of their business operations.
- Industry should strive to improve its specific water consumption. Regular water audits are essential for determining water use efficiency.
- Harvested rainwater and grey water as a game-changer in addressing water crisis. Industry needs to innovate to create products from treated wastewater.
- The food and beverage industry has a high water footprint and must combine efficiency, technology, and sustainability to meet future growth targets.
- Regulatory compliance should be viewed as a measure to ensure environmental sustainability
- Use of technologies such as automated water quality analyzers, and remote monitoring systems with cloud connectivity, can help address issues with respect to real-time water quality monitoring by addressing gaps such as lack of skilled manpower, infrastructure constraints, safety, etc.
- The sustainability and growth of the food and beverage industry heavily rely on the availability of water and mitigation of climate change impacts. Integrate climate models and data into operational and agricultural strategies to anticipate and mitigate future water-related risks.
