K-C’s Water for Life Focus Area Part of Sustainability 2015 Strategy

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Kimberly-Clark Corp., Dallas, Texas, USA, has announced its Water for Life focus area as part of the company's Sustainability 2015 strategy. The announcement came during Earth Week (April 16 - 22) to draw attention to the importance globally of fresh water and the sustainable management of fresh water resources. K-C's Water for Life program provides a platform on which to collaborate with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide clean drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene education to communities around the world.

Water for Life is a sustainability focus area and is a means to help achieve the company's 2015 goal of providing socially focused programs in all K-C communities. K-C uses approximately 34 billion gal of water per year, but returns 94% of the water it uses, the company noted. Under Water for Life, the company is participating in several water replenishment projects aimed to return at least 200 million gal per year in water-stressed areas around the world ... the equivalent of more than 300 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

In 2011, K-C was involved in two water replenishment initiatives in India. The company teamed with Sanskriti Samvardhan Mandal (SSM), a local NGO, to implement the watershed development project, Trickle-to-Stream. The aim is to help alleviate water shortages in Sagroli Village, located in the state of Maharashtra, where K-C's Pune facility is located. The first phase of the project has been completed and was successful in engaging villagers in water and soil conservation. The 2012 project phase will focus on improving access to drinking water.

Trickle-to-Stream used well-established indigenous knowledge and technology and encouraged local ownership including a committee comprised of farmers, teachers, village women, local authorities, and technical experts who worked together to supervise and monitor project work.

A second project in the Akola village in Maharashtra captures monsoon rains by check dams (designed to retain water) to provide an immediate source of water for drinking, washing, and irrigation. Prior to this project, the village only had enough water to sustain one crop per year. The water captured in these check dams enabled the village to yield a second crop, thus boosting the economy of the village.

Kineret Lake, better known as the Sea of Galilee, is the only fresh water source in Israel and provides industry and agriculture with the majority of its water. As the water situation in Israel has grown worse over the past years, K-C's Nahariya mill team worked in partnership with the country's National Water Agency to reduce the facility's water consumption. A private well was drilled to draw water from an underground aquifer containing non-drinking water. This well is now providing about 80 million gal from the aquifer versus the Kineret Lake, thus replenishing the equivalent of annual water consumption for 6,000 people.

Water resources in Spain are a key environmental issue as the country suffers from frequent drought conditions. Since more water is used in flushing toilets than by any other household water use, K-C initiated the Save-a-Flush campaign to provide water saver bags which, when fitted into a toilet tank, displaces 1 liter of water per flush. With a combined annual water savings of 250 million liters, Save-a-Flush is making an important impact in the country.