Coca-Cola has been accused of dehydrating communities in its pursuit of water resources to feed its own plants, drying up farmers' wells and destroying local agriculture. The company admits that without water it would have no business at all.
Coca-Cola's operations rely on access to vast supplies of water, as it takes almost three litres of water to make one litre of Coca-Cola. In order to satisfy this need, Coca-Cola is increasingly taking over control of aquifers in communities around the world. Coca-Cola's operations have particularly been blamed for exacerbating water shortages in regions that suffer from a lack of water resources and rainfall.
Nowhere has this been better documented than in India, where there are now community campaigns against the company in several states. Research carried out by War on Want in the Indian states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh affirms the findings from Kerala and Maharastra that Coca-Cola's activities are having a serious negative impact on farmers and local communities. Locals are increasingly unable to irrigate their lands and sustain their crops, putting whole families at risk of losing their livelihoods. Locals fear Kaladera could become a 'dark zone', the term used to describe areas that are abandoned due to depleted water resources.