By Liz Enbysk

SGN Managing Editor

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Using water-saving equipment and technologies, creative recycling and reuse of water and by deploying a water management system throughout its manufacturing facilities, PepsiCo conserved nearly 16 billion liters of water in 2011 from a 2006 baseline. That achievement won the global food and beverage company the 2012 Stockholm Industry Water Award at the World Water Week conference this week in Sweden.

It was a fitting choice given that this year's conference theme is water and food security. The annual event opened with speakers calling for global action to reduce food losses, enhance water efficiency in agriculture and curb consumer waste.

“Food, energy, the ecological footprint and various social and economical activities are all dependent on water resources and its management and a changing climate and extended variables make the future of water and food production highly uncertain,” said Mohamed Bahaa El Din Saad, the Egyptian Minister for Water and Irrigation and President of the African Minister’s Council on Water (AMCOW). “If water policies are not altered, farmers are going to find it extremely difficult to meet the food needs of the 9 billion population by the year 2045. We need to introduce more efficient water use and improve food productivity per unit of water.”

At SGN we've written before about the energy, water, food nexus as the 3-headed monster we can't ignore and other smart water topics. But the annual water conference drew over 2,000 politicians, scientists, water professionals and leaders of international organizations, many of whom provided sobering perspective from their part of the world.

According to one report from the conference, "Today more than 900 million people suffer from hunger, and two billion more face serious health risks from undernourishment. At the same time, 1.5 billion people overeat and over one-third of all food is lost or wasted. Demand for food is projected to increase by 70 percent by mid-century and, without intervention, untenable pressure on water resources in many regions in the world will threaten food and water security."

What to do?  “We realized quite some time ago that water is crucial for the generation of energy so we developed skills in water management, starting some 20 years ago, which have moved progressively towards multipurpose management,” said Xavier Ursat of EDF, the French utility. “This means we don’t just manage water for electricity generation but for other purposes such as irrigation.”

Below are a few more reports covering topics raised at the conference:

·         The Guardian: Achieving water security will require companies to take a long-term view, tackle issues at a local level and establish cross-sector partnerships. Read more >>

·         Huffington Post: Vegetarian diet needed to prevent global food and water crisis, report says. Read more >>

·         Triple Pundit: World Water Week opens with somber warnings to business about water scarcity. Read more >>

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