Three cheers for water savings in the soft drink industry

Abstract

The WRC project, completed last year by the Pollution Research Group at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, involved a survey of the South African soft drink industry in order to obtain an overview of operations, specific water use, specific effluent volume and the extent to which best practice is being implemented. The survey forms one of several National Industrial Water and Wastewater Surveys (NATSURV) currently being undertaken with funding by the Water Research Commission (WRC). The surveys follow on the original NATSURVs undertaken in the Eighties. The original NATSURVs measured the water use and effluent generation in a range of industries aimed at identifying areas in which industrial water use and effluent management could be improved. The new round of NATSURVs are revisiting these industry and are intended to provide a latter day comparison to determine whether improvements have been made in the area of industrial water management. With regards to the soft drink industry there have been quite a number of changes to the sector since the original survey was conducted in 1987.

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