Water Conservation

We have identified water conservation as an issue we would like to focus our energies on. We are working in close partnership with our stakeholders to conserve precious drops of water. Water management has been a key area of focus for HUL across the entire value chain.

We are also engaged in community projects to conserve water. We aim to conserve more than 20 billion litres of water by 2015.

We will conserve water by working on a wide range of locally relevant initiatives and partnerships for water conservation and spread awareness about the issue amongst our consumers and communities.

We are working with specialised NGO partners in the field of water conservation, and use various models with specific performance indicators and evaluation procedures. We began this journey seven years ago to build our learning. Since then, we have been engaged in successful projects on water conservation across different terrains in India which face acute shortage of water.

Successful water conservation pilot projects

Project Khamgaon
Seven years ago, our team from the Khamgaon factory started a pilot watershed management project, on a five hectare plot, to prevent soil degradation and to conserve water. The selectedarea was located in a dry and arid region of Maharashtra. The efforts have resulted in the creation of a green belt, which is now a veritable forest with about 6,300 trees. Encouraged by the results, we extended the model to a neighbouring village, Parkhed, in association with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)and BAIF Development Research Foundation. The community at Parkhed constructed 47percolation bunds, 1,600 trenches, 6,000 running metres of continuous contour trenching over 100hectares and five permanent check dams. More than 350 families are reaping the second crop, which is made possible by the check dams.

The total land under cultivation during the second crop season is approximately 470 acres. The annual income of the farmers in the vicinity of the five check dams has increased from an average of INR 36,000 to approximately INR 85,000, per farmer. This success has been attributed to the availability of well water during the Rabi season and an increase in the water level during the Kharif season. Hence, along with reaping a Rabi crop, the farmers have also been able to almost double the yield of the Kharif crop. This initiative received appreciation at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Project Silvassa
In April 2004, Vanarai and HUL started a project in Karchond and later in Dapada, Pati, Sindoni, and Silvassa. Till March 2010, the project has made an impact on water and soil conservation. The project has ensured sustainable development of water and land resources, locals have attained self-sufficiency in basic needs of food, water, fodder and fuel, and local employment opportunities have been generated through increased economic activity.

The other highlights are:
- More than 67 million litres of water have been harvested since 2004
- Additional income of INR 160 lakhs was accrued to villagers during project period
- 325 families have benefited under various programmes, 130 families now have access to the public toilet facility
- Soil conservation treatment has been carried out on 282 hectares of land
- 12,000 mango seedlings have been planted
- 22 bore wells and 20 open wells were recharged

Project Puducherry
In 2008-09, HUL's Puducherry unit partnered with DHAN Foundation, Madurai and identified eight village ponds for renovation to enhance the water availability. One of the unique aspects of the project was to form social capital by organizing villagers into pond association and empower them to execute the physical renovation work. The pilot project has improved water availability in eight village ponds by harvesting monsoon run-off. Rainwater harvesting storage of 22300 cu. meter has fulfilled the multiple domestic needs of 4519 households in eight hamlets and 346 acres are now irrigated due to the rejuvenation of ground water.