Dallas, Texas 05/05/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) along with WHI (WaterHealth International) announced on Friday, May 2, 2014 that they plan to bring safe drinking water to almost 1 million school children through CWW (Child With Water) program. By the end of 2015, both the partners expect to deliver 500 million liters of safe drinking water in 2,000 schools across many developing countries. The first installation is expected to being by May 2014 and the water purification systems will be installed, operated and maintained by WHI.
Safe Water Access Projects:
Through its RAIN (Replenish Africa Initiative), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) is actively sponsoring safe water access projects in West Africa in partnership with WHI. Coca-Cola also holds minority equity ownership in WHI which is global leader in decentralized water purification systems. WHI is currently providing sustainable safe drinking water access in five countries through its more than 500 water purification systems, reaching out to almost 5 million people.
The investment by Coca-Cola is believed to support the scale up of WHI’s sustainable safe water access model, helping to accelerate the installation of new CWW programs and WaterHealth Centers worldwide, thus reaching out to more underserved communities.
Executive Remark:
Chief Sustainability Officer at The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), Bea Perez noted, “We believe this program has the potential to help transform communities through safe water consumption, safe water handling and safe hygiene practices. WaterHealth International is an ideal partner to implement the program because of their proven model and capability of providing safe water to communities.” Perez expects that the results would have lasting impact on the communities the company serves.
President and Chief Executive officer of WaterHealth International, Sanjay Bhatnagar mentioned that this partnership is a validation of WHI approach as the world’s leading model providing safe drinking water sustainably.
Stock Update:
On Friday, the stock marginally gained 0.42% and closed at $40.95.
