Water Conservation

WATER CONSERVATION

Water is essential to the development of Pernod Ricard products. The Group has always maintained an exceptional record with respect to this irreplaceable source of life.
Most of the Group’s water usage is for the refrigeration of its distillation units. Water is generally taken from underground aquifers or from rivers close to industrial sites; it is then returned to the natural environment.

The Group continually takes a number of steps to save and recycle water.
In 2007-2008, Pernod Ricard's total water consumption decreased from 7.6m cubic metres to 6.7m cubic metres. The volume of wastewater that is generated fell by 13%. The systematic use of water meters has also helped increase the reliability of collected data.

MINIMISING WATER CONSUMPTION

All of the Group’s subsidiaries are aiming to lower water consumption. The solutions that they are implementing are proving to be very diverse.

As part of this initiative, the Group has launched a water management programme in Argentina. It consists of installing flowmeters in underground wells at five plants, as well as a programme designed to raise awareness among employees.

Chivas Brothers installed an automated machine to wash vehicles, allowing the Scottish subsidiary to recycle 95% of wastewater and save €10,000 each year.

In Australia, a new wine transfer and assembly management process was implemented at Rowland Flat. In 2007, it reduced water consumption per litre of wine produced by 20%, saving 22m litres of water.

In Suape, Brazil, 70% of processed effluents are used for irrigation. The Livramento site is currently running a project which aims to use rainwater for purposes that do not require drinking water, such as cleaning plants.

A programme to replace bottle rinsing equipment was adopted in Greece. It reduced water consumption by 10% during the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

Our local subsidiary in Armenia has launched a major renovation program which has reduced water consumption by a factor of five in just four years.

In addition, the Group is using a technique to measure the hydric stress level of grapevines at vineyards in Australia, Spain and Argentina. The aim is to provide the exact quantity of water needed for the grapes to grow, while monitoring water consumption levels. This is achieved by a drop-by-drop irrigation method.

For Pernod’s facility in Cubzac, France, reducing the quantity of water used for cleaning is a priority. A new initiative involving an automating system for cleaning wine vats was implemented in 2006. The goal is to reduce the site’s water consumption by an additional 10%. 

IMPROVING WATER TREATMENT

A reference guide has been created to describe the various water treatment techniques best suited to the Group.
Different practices for reusing wastewater have also been developed, such as vineyard irrigation, composting the sediment from effluent treatment stations and using sediment as agricultural fertiliser.

In Ireland, the distillery for Irish Distillers in Midleton has been equipped with a membrane bioreactor to maximise wastewater treatment efficiency. The completely purified water can then be directly discharged into the river or reused.