CWDF water program gets $2m grant from PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc offered a $2 million grant in June to the China Women’s Development Foundation or CWDF to support its new initiative, the Water Cellar for Mothers-Green Village program.
The program is an extension of the Water Cellar for Mothers project implemented by CWDF. It will carry out projects to improve the quality and efficiency of drinking water in rural areas of China.
It combines environmental health management, water source protection and women’s empowerment, and helps local residents improve their living environment and enhance their awareness of watershed conservation.
Pepsi and the CWDF have selected water resources along the mid-route of China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project as the project’s implementation area.
To ensure drinking water supply in North China, the large-scale trans-provincial water diversion project of China — it is the mid-route of the South-to-North Water Diversion project — started to officially transfer water in December 2014.
As the major water source, the Danjiangkou Reservoir has attracted increasing attention due to environmental protection issues near the reservoir and upstream areas.
However, the local villages still lack a centralized waste disposal system, and living conditions for many residents have yet to be improved.
It is also important to enhance local residents’ awareness of water source quality and environment protection. The program will be officially implemented starting from the fourth quarter of this year and is expected to continue for a period of eight years.
Give2Asia, a nonprofit organization, will administer the
billion
grant. This program is expected to build or renovate the centralized water supply facilities in the core project villages in Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi provinces, help 4,000 project residents build sanitary household lavatories, and establish a rural garbage disposal system and mechanism. The project is expected to reach more than 10 million beneficiaries by the end of 2025.
There are about 4 billion people globally who are affected by water scarcity, at least one month every year and by 2025, an estimated two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed regions as a result of current water use habits, population growth and the effects of climate change, according to a major research.
According to the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources’ data, China’s per capita fresh water resources are only 28 percent of the world’s average, making China one of the most water-deficient countries in the world.
“The shortage of safe water access is an urgent challenge facing the whole world and it has been a key priority for PepsiCo,” said Ram Krishnan, president and CEO of PepsiCo China.
“As a global corporate citizen fully embedded into the fabric of Chinese society, PepsiCo is committed to being truly in China, for China, with China.”
PepsiCo has supported the CWDF’s Water Cellar for Mothers program since 2001, providing safe water access to remote areas in midwestern China. PepsiCo’s contributions have benefited about 900,000 people in 10 provinces including Sichuan and Yunnan.