Recognizing the importance of water in our business activities by protecting forests cultivating water, using water with care, and returning it to nature in a pristine state.

The bounty of nature—water and agricultural products—underpin the main businesses of the Suntory Group. As a company that is "Bringing Water to Life," above all else we prioritize carrying out business activities in a way that does not stress the water cycle. The most important concerns we have in our business activities are that we protect the forests that create water, that we use water with care, and that we achieve water sustainability that will return it to its pristine state.

We use large amounts of groundwater in every step of the manufacturing process of our products. To maintain the sustainability of that groundwater, we signed long-term contracts that last decades with forest owners and in 2003 began developing forests that create water. Centered on the water-resource cultivation areas around our plants, our Natural Water Sanctuary Project is conducted in collaboration with national and local governments, local communities, and experts. Under this Project, we are carrying out water-resource cultivation activities at 12 locations in 11 prefectures nationwide. The Project entails carrying out thorough surveys before beginning work, giving full consideration to the natural environment and ecosystem peculiar to the area, and developing forests with a great capacity for cultivating water resources.

Expanding the Area of Natural Water Sanctuaries to 7,000 Hectares

In 2010, we concluded agreements for approximately 2,880 hectares of new water resource cultivation forests in seven locations: Natural Water Sanctuary Kyoto Minami-Yamashiro, Natural Water Sanctuary Okutama, Natural Water Sanctuary Mt. Monryu in Nishiwaki, Hyogo, Natural Water Sanctuary Omi, and Natural Water Sanctuary Gifu Higashi-Shirakawa. The total area covered as of April 2011 is approximately 5,223 hectares. We are making great efforts toward achieving the expansion of our Natural Water Sanctuaries to 7,000 hectares by the end of 2011, which continues to be our medium-term goal. Our aim is to create more groundwater than the volume of groundwater used by our plants.

The Suntory Group's plants use a great deal of water in, for example, cleaning production equipment and cooling, in addition to that used as an ingredient in our products. Each plant sets medium-term goals for the reduction of water usage in order to get the most out of this finite resource. We also promote effective water use through the introduction of technologies for reusing and recycling water. Although our water usage increased in 2010 as production increased, we actually reduced per unit production usage through water conservation efforts at our plants.

Using Cascades of Water

Storage tanks for recovered water

We classify water into 5 graduated levels of purity at the Suntory Products Ltd.'s Minami Alps Hakushu Water Plant. Cascades are used for the water that will be reused stepwise from the processes that require the greatest purity to those requiring the least. By doing so, we have achieved the industry's highest levels of water usage per unit production.

We set voluntary standards for waste water that are stricter than the legal regulations and manage its quality so that we may release waste water in a state as close to nature as possible. Waste water from our plants is first purified using anaerobic waste water treatment facilities and other equipment before it is released into sewers and rivers. Inspectors use measuring equipment to take daily readings of water quality and temperature under a 24-hour monitoring regime.