India: Drought in the state of Maharashtra leaves Carlsberg and United Breweries plants without water

Water supply to Carlsberg brewery in Aurangabad has been cut, thanks to Maharashtra government's directive to stop supply of water to breweries and distilleries in Marathwada region, following the extraordinary drought situation prevailing in the area, Economic Times reported on January, 24.

A Carlsberg representative said: "The water supply to the Carlsberg brewery in the Waluj Industrial Area of Aurangabad has been reduced. We are reviewing the situation in Aurangabad and are cooperating with the authorities to support them on the steps taken to address the issue."

But the Vijay Mallya-led United Breweries, country's largest brewer, said it will survive the summer without much damage as it has already upgraded its system to meet such eventualities.

A note issued by the company to the press said: "We have proactively put in place several measures to reduce water consumption. We have installed water-efficient bottle washing equipment, state-of-the-art recycling systems to treat and re-use water in designated areas of the plants, and have significantly reduced water losses in the breweries. These measures have dramatically brought down water requirements and we follow global best practices and standards in water conservation. We do not see a major issue in operating in summer, because of the above.”

With water supply lowest in the past 40 years, the state government is left with no option but to curtail water supply to nonessential consumption. Maharashtra has 90 distilleries depending on dams for its water supply.

However, many others are cautious in their approach. Most alcohol beverage producers want the government to tread cautiously on the policy of stopping the water supply to breweries and beverages as the government would not be able to stomach the full ramification of such a measure.

24 January, 2013