BUILDING WATERSHED HEALTH
Our goal: 100% of our communities in high stress areas will have measurably improved water availability and quality by 2025.
Our Approach
More than just a key ingredient in our products, water is a critical resource for the health and well-being of every community around the world. Water resource challenges are magnified by climate pressures, inadequate infrastructure and poor governance.
The growing scarcity of freshwater resources is not just a material issue for our company; it is a global risk to the economic, social and environmental well-being of our communities. As Uganda’s market leader, we are committed to being a part of the solution to the growing water challenges across our communities and supply chain.
With water as a key ingredient to our products, we developed a comprehensive approach to water stewardship:
Within our operations, we drive water use efficiency, responsible discharge and effluent reuse. Beyond the brewery gate, we invest in shared water security and watershed health through partnerships; In local communities, we promote access to safe water.
Internal efficiency
Within our breweries, we brew our beer aiming for the highest level of water efficiency and we continuously challenge ourselves to do even more. We leverage our internal data management system Voyager Plant Optimization (VPO) to monitor and manage our water use on a routine basis and cascade best practices across the business.
We are aiming for water use efficiency of 2.5 hl/hl across all our brewery sites and setting a more demanding ambition of 2.0 hl/hl for our breweries located in communities facing high risk for water stress, both by 2025.
Managing water risk & improving Watershed Health in high water stress areas.
Incorporating publicly available water risk data from the World Resources Institute and The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as well as internal data and expertise, we have developed a bespoke water risk assessment tool to review our operational risk on a quarterly basis.
Using this tool, we have identified and continue to prioritize our sites that are located in high water stress areas
Nile Breweries Water Stewardship Efforts to Restore River Rwizi
Scaling up Integrated Catchment-Based management in River Rwizi to benefit People, Climate and Nature.
Funders
Implementing Partners
Directorate of Water Resources Management (DWRM) Victoria Water Management Zone (VWMZ)
About River Rwizi
River Rwizi is a major source of water for twelve district local governments in Western Uganda including Buhweju, Sheema, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Rwampara, Mbarara, Isingiro, Kiruhura, Lyantonde, Rakai, Lwengo and Kyotera Districts, and Mbarara City.
The river is a lifeline to approximately 2.5 million people in South Western Uganda which represents approximately 4.5% of the population of Uganda (UBOS[1], 2014). Most Importantly, it is the main source of water for Mbarara city, a major business city hub for Western Uganda hosting a population of over 1,000,000 people and supporting several industries.
Restoring River Rwizi
Over time, River Rwizi has been severely impacted by adverse impacts of human activities such as encroachment and poor agricultural practices, resulting in water shortages during the dry season and flush flooding during the wet seasons. To reverse this trend, we are committed to restoring River Rwizi and have supported interventions to ensure communities are living in harmony with nature in a healthy Rwizi ecosystem.
Community engagement
Our water stewardship journey begins with active community involvement. We engage and collaborate with local communities within River Rwizi’s catchment areas to raise awareness, educate, and collaborate on how to restore it.
Here's how we are making a difference
- Promoting Sustainable Farming: We work with local communities to encourage sustainable farming practices and alternative economic activities to reduce pressure on the River Rwizi catchment.
- Empowering Households: We have empowered 1,076 households in the river catchment areas to undertake water protection and conservation measures including training on various environmental conservation and agri-business skills for sustainable use of the river catchment, awareness of the river and wetland management, forest restoration and sustainable land management.
- Safe Water Access: We have supported 95 households around River Rwizi to access safe water by providing nine community rainwater harvesting tanks. This initiative has led to improved access to water by the communities in the water-stressed villages as well as limiting incidences of runoff erosion.
- Providing access to alternative Livelihood To protect the catchment areas, we have provided alternative livelihood. We have provided the community with dairy heifers as an alternative livelihood improvement enterprise. Additionally, we have constructed a zero-grazing cattle housing unit for the heifers. We have also established 2.5 acres of fodder bank with improved dairy grass species in the community to restore the wetland and protect the river from erosion risks. The fodder back is also used by the community for zero grazing.
