PepsiCo Foundation commits USD 4.26 Mn to increase safe water access

New Delhi [India], June 19 (ANI): The PepsiCo Foundation has announced the expansion of its water access initiatives in India with an aim to positively impact 2,00,000 people in communities around its plants.

PepsiCo Foundation will provide a USD 4.26 million grant to WaterAid, a leading international non-profit, to provide safe water access to communities in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala by December 2020.

The project is in line with Goal 6 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which covers access to safe water and sanitation. Globally, PepsiCo, through its 'Performance with Purpose 2025 agenda', has a goal to provide access to safe water to a total of 25 million people since 2006 in the world's most at-risk areas.

Over the next three years, WaterAid in India will focus on implementing solutions that will help increase access to clean water; build community and government capacity to manage water resources including regular water quality testing, conduct trainings for operation and maintenance; and educate community members to adopt sustainable sanitation and hygiene practices. These solutions are aimed at helping improve water security for these communities and will also promote water conservation and recharge measures including rainwater harvesting.

"PepsiCo aims to help communities effectively conserve, manage, and distribute water. In India, we work on several programs that focus on water replenishment, livelihood enhancement. PepsiCo Foundation's partnership with WaterAid supports our goal to improve water security for communities through Sustainable Access to Safe Water," said president and CEO, PepsiCo India, Ahmed ElSheikh.

"We see a synergy between the PepsiCo Foundation's efforts to provide safe water and our own work, and look forward to creating a stewardship around water that involves all citizens and stakeholders," said chief executive, WaterAid India, VK Madhavan.

The grant builds on investments worth over USD 17 million that the Foundation has made in India to date. These grants have been focused on providing safe water and sanitation solutions to underserved communities and have positively impacted 10 million people in water-stressed areas.

Programs included partnerships with NGOs like Safe Water Network to set up more than 100 community Reverse Osmosis (RO) water stations in India and Water.Org to provide access to safe water and sanitation through micro-lending. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI