Groundwater Levels Continue Downward Spiral Around Coca-Cola Plant Continues Bottling in Drought Area, Farmers and Villagers Left Without Water
KALA DERA, INDIA - March 11, 2010 - The Coca-Cola company has continued to operate its bottling plant in Kala Dera in Jaipur, India even as the area has been declared a drought area last summer and the groundwater levels are falling sharply - leaving the largely agrarian community with severely restricted access to water.
Data obtained this week by the India Resource Center from the Central Groundwater Board, a government agency, confirm that groundwater levels in Kala Dera fell precipitously again - a drop of 4.29 meters (14 feet) in just one year between August 2008 and August 2009, from 30.83 meters below ground level to 35.12 meters respectively.
The latest government figures on groundwater depletion are extremely alarming given last year's sharp drop in groundwater levels - 5.83 meters (19 feet) between May 2007 and May 2008.
Kala Dera has never experienced such sharp drops in groundwater levels and such precipitous drops have become common since Coca-Cola started its bottling operations in 2000.
In the nine years prior to Coca-Cola's bottling operations in Kala Dera, groundwater levels fell just 3 meters. In the nine years since Coca-Cola has been operating in Kala Dera, the groundwater levels have dropped 22.36 meters.
CONTACT: India Resource Center
Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center +91 98103 46161 (India), +1 415 336 7584 (US)
Mahesh Yogi, Kala Dera Jan Sangharsh Samiti, India +91 98295 99140
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