Trying to prevent erosion and protect water resources in Columbia, conservationists appealed to the makers of another precious resource: beer.
As this article in the Nature Conservancy’s magazine recounts, the organization approached the country’s largest brewer, called Bavaria, to convince the company to contribute to a local water fund. Clean water is, after all, an essential component for making beer, and Bavaria had seen its costs for water filtration increase as the water supply to Bogotá became increasingly polluted. Bavaria and its parent company had already been seeking ways to improve water efficiency in beer-making operations.
The Conservancy’s plan was to establish a water fund to protect the watershed—halting the clearing of critical areas for farming and cattle ranching, putting up fence to keep cattle out of sensitive streams, and preventing the sedimentation that has polluted much of the city’s drinking water. It would be cheaper, the Conservancy argued, to invest in the protection of natural filtration mechanisms rather than to rely more and more on artificial filtration—not to mention good for the city’s population of 7 million. The organization estimated that if local businesses would contribute a bit over $8 million for watershed protection projects, sedimentation would be reduced by 2 million tons per year. Considering the cost of water treatment to remove that 2 million tons—about $3.5 million per year—the contributors would recoup their investment in less than five years.
What was needed first, though, was a big investor to kick things off and help convince smaller businesses that the fund would be viable. Bavaria agreed, and the fund is going ahead. The Conservancy is helping set up similar funds in other areas; one in Ecuador has funded the restoration of 5,000 acres and the planting of 2 million trees, as well as paid for hiring guards to stop illegal logging activities. It is also helping establish more water funds in other areas.