The teams working on technical, social and governance issues have undertaken both in-situ and ex-situ assessments related to governance, technical and social concerns. For four sites the first cycle of technical assessment has been completed. Similarly, social assessment has also been completed for three sites and the findings are currently being analysed. The Governance team is simultaneously involved in a review of Corporate policies with respect to water resources and wastewater management, as well as an evaluation of adherence to legal and administrative procedures, and corporate norms at the plant level during site visits. The quality of governance is also being examined in the process. It is expected that the assessments would take an additional couple of months before it is finally completed.

The second meeting of the Steering Committee which was organized on 10 February 2007 reviewed the process and methodology. In the technical assessment the committee suggested that a detailed water resources modeling of one site would be desirable. Subsequently, the team has identified and is going ahead with the same.

During site-visits, the team undertakes detailed technical and social surveys, positions extensive monitoring network for measuring water use and quality, gauges the level of compliance of individual plants (both company owned and franchisees) to legal and administrative requirements and stated Coca Cola corporate policies with respect to water resources and wastewater management at the time of its establishment, and during manufacturing operations. This is juxtaposed against civic governance policies with respect to issues of water availability, pricing, and the monitoring of water usage and wastewater disposal. Also, concerned district officials as well as officials from Government agencies, example the District Collector’s office, Groundwater Department, Irrigation Department, Department of Industry, State Pollution Control Board etc., are apprised about the project and attempts are made to gather their perceptions with respect to the water resources and waste water management practices of the plant. In addition to the above, the application, at the plant level, of water management and wastewater disposal audits and standards, self-assessment protocols, knowledge sharing systems voluntarily subscribed to or adopted by the Company, and the CSR roadmap outlined in the company’s citizenship endeavours is also assessed during a process of interaction with the management of the plant under study.

As indicated the present programme for assessment is expected to continue for another two months and the progress on the same would be updated on a monthly basis on the website.