A news item reports that Coke has completed some rain water harvesting projects in MP. “The projects have the combined capacity to harvest 36 lakh liters (3.6 million liters) of rainwater annually, benefiting the schools and surrounding communities.” Good start.
Every little bit helps. How much exactly is 3.6 million liters in MP? Let’s estimate the consumption of fresh water by the population of MP. Assume that per capita consumption is a very very miserly 30 liters per day on average. Remember we have to drink around 2 liters per day. Add cooking water and a little bit of washing up water. So the total conservative estimate of annual domestic fresh water consumption in MP is 60 million people x 30 liters x 365 = 657,000 million liters. That’s 657 billion liters.
Now that gives us a sense of the magnitude of the difference that Coke has made: 0.0005 percent in the availability of fresh water to the residents of MP. Or if Coke were to multiply their efforts one thousand times, it still would account for only half a percent of the water consumption of MP.
Like I said, a good start. Every little bit helps but this is really a vanishingly small bit.
Lest I be accused of being uncharitable, I would like to point out that it is not Coke that can make a difference. The people of MP have to do that for themselves.
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 
here is an interesting statistics.
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/ask/5409
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Coke uses a lot of water in it’s production process. It has been having trouble in Kerala with the use of ground water. The rain water harvesting is probably to improve their image and reduce further problems in that area.
Anyway, it is commendable.
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i like the calculation. but it takes whole mp into consideration. have you considered an option of using ONLY the surrounding communities as the beneficiaries of water harvesting project? the % might be significant
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