PepsiCo Backs New Tool to Predict Water Risks
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Business
New Modeling Tool Created by theInter-American Development Bankand Funded by PepsiCo HelpsBetter Understanding of How Proposed Policies Could Affect Freshwater Supplies
PepsiCo unveiled Hydro-BID, a ground-breaking data management and modeling tool developed in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that estimates the availability of freshwater in water-scarce regions throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
The company also announced its latest water report,"Delivering Access to Safe Water Through Partnerships."Both announcements were made today at the Stockholm International Water Institute's annualWorld Water Week.
The IDB's Hydro-BID is an open-source modeling tool that has the potential to forecast water availability and supply in the Latin America and Caribbean region under virtually any climate, population and land-use scenario.
To date, the tool has projected water supplies in Brazil, Peru, Haiti and Argentina, and is expected to impact more than three million people across the Latin America and Caribbean region by 2017.
The PepsiCo Foundation's $5 million grant to IDB's AquaFund is contributing to fund pilot projects, in partnership with the governments of Switzerland and Austria, in five countries and will reach approximately 500,000 beneficiaries by the end of 2015.
While some projects are aimed to improve access to safe water and sanitation services for scattered communities in extreme poverty, other projects like Hydro-BID present an unparalleled effort to develop a suite of watershed modeling tools that could be applied worldwide.
As a global food and beverage company dependent on water-intensive agricultural activities, PepsiCo seeks to drive water efficiency in its operations and throughout its supply chain, as part of the company's public commitment to help protect and conserve global water supplies.
In fact, water stewardship is a critical component of PepsiCo's approach to sustainable business development—what it calls "Performance with Purpose"—and one way the company strives to "future-proof" the business in today's competitive, resource-scarce world.
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