[natureguy]

A similar case is going on in Keral, India against Pepsi.

Pepsicola India Holdings' bottling plant in Kerala is extracting excess groundwater and has also run into complaints of groundwater contamination, according to a study done by Kerala's State Groundwater Department some months ago. The study has traced toxic chemicals in the water samples from the company site, and has asked the State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to take immediate measures to prevent spreading of contamination. The plant operates in the Wise Park Industrial Estate in the arid Palakkad district of Kerala.

The report submitted by the expert committee consisting of four hydro-geologists of the groundwater department warns that the factory should not be allowed to draw more than 2.34 lakh litres of groundwater a day, as against the present 6 lakh litres. Pepsi holds 53 acres of land in 750-acres industrial park, and extracts 48 per cent of the groundwater in the area, points out the expert committee.

The study also reveals that the company’s claim of storing its solid wastes in a secured landfill is baseless. In fact, the company dumps its sludge in a shed open on all sides and chemicals could get into the soil and groundwater during rains and this might contaminate the groundwater in the entire area, warns the report. Pepsi claims that it disposes the sludges in a scientific way — in a sanitary landfill.

The maximum permissible limit of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in fresh water is 1,000 mg/litre. Water samples from bore wells at the plant’s premise contain 5,684 mg/litre and the contamination is 10 times higher than in the wells outside the plant.

More: Its2hot.in | Pepsi Contaminating ground water