12% Water-use Reduction by 2020, Tyson Says

Tyson Foods is aiming to reduce its water usage by 12 percent by 2020, the company said Wednesday.

The announcement is part of the company's 2016 sustainability report. More information on Tyson's environmental impact will be released today.

Christine Daugherty, vice president of sustainable food production for Tyson, said the company will talk about water conservation with the independent farmers who raise animals for Tyson. Tyson said water is used in food production to keep the food safe for consumers.

"Water conservation has been an important area of focus for Tyson Foods for many years," Daugherty said. "Water is a precious, finite resource, and we need to manage it responsibly from farm to finished product."

The company will also begin installing continuous monitoring equipment at U.S. plants to encourage workers to better manage the use of water this year.

Tyson has been testing this approach since February 2014 at a plant in Tennessee, said Leigh Ann Johnston, director of sustainability at Tyson.

During the test, the facility used 9 percent less water, the company said. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that improvement would supply more than 360 families of four with water for one year.

"We discovered when managers had real-time insight into how water was being used, they were quickly able to improve conservation by taking corrective action," Johnston said.

This year, Tyson has faced criticism from environmental groups about water pollution. Environment America said that based on data from the EPA, Tyson released 104 million pounds of pollutants into waterways from 2010 to 2014. The environmental advocacy organization ranked Tyson as the second-largest polluter in the country.

Worth Sparkman, Tyson spokesman, said Environment America is misinterpreting the data the company regularly provides the EPA about the treated water released from wastewater treatment systems.

"We vigorously refute its misleading claims," he said. "The water we use is returned to streams and rivers only after it's been properly treated by wastewater treatment systems that are government regulated and permitted."

Shareholders voted down a proposal during the Tyson's annual shareholder meeting in February that would have created a policy to reduce the risk of water contamination by the company. The proposal was written by a group of religious investors.

Tyson is facing an ongoing federal criminal investigation about the discharge of wastewater from a Missouri treatment plant into a local stream, according to the proposal.

Tyson will be part of the Carbon Disclosure Project Water Questionnaire in 2016 for the first time in an effort to be more transparent about its water usage and policies. Tyson said it already uses technology and reclamation systems to conserve water.

"In light of the current policies and continuous efforts with respect to water conservation and quality, the adoption of another policy is unnecessary, largely duplicative of the Company's current policies and procedures and would place additional costs on the Company," Tyson said in response to the shareholder proposal in the company's annual proxy statement.

Source: Arkansas Online

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