Haven’t heard of World Water Day? It’s a day designated in 1992 by the United Nations as the day to remember how crucial water is to our lives and the health of the planet and take action to conserve this vital resource. This year World Water Day falls on March 22, but in the beverage industry we celebrate its aims every day.

The beverage industry is a leader in responsible water management and has been for decades. Our water resource managers make it their life’s work to use as little water as possible and to ensure what we use is clean and pure. That’s why we sponsor water reclamation projects and watershed restoration, working with major environmental groups to ensure safe, clean and plentiful drinking water for all not just our products.

As a whole, our industry has taken great strides to be good stewards of our water resources– we’ve reduced our water use by 14% per unit over five years, even as production has increased by 20%. Individually, our companies are involved in their own water sustainability and humanitarian projects. The Coca-Cola Company took part today in the White House Water Summit in honor of World Water Day to spur discussion on water challenges and to shine a light on innovative solutions and technology being used to overcome these challenges. Since 2004, Coca-Cola has replenished over 150 billion liters of water through projects in 61 countries.

PepsiCo supported World Water Day through an initiative funded by a $12.1 million grant from their Foundation, in partnership with Water.org and Adhikar, to provide more than 1.6 million people in India access to safe water. With all of its partners combined, PepsiCo has provided more than 6 million people access to safe water worldwide.

Water is the world’s most important natural resource, which is why our industry does everything it can to make every drop count. Check out Innovation Naturally for more info.