Water Stewardship

Water is a precious resource globally and for us it is essential to the brewing process. Without great water, we couldn’t make great beer. Our stakeholders expect us to use water responsibly and we take water stewardship very seriously.

As a major brewer, the essential components of water are quality and quantity. High quality water enables us to make exceptional beer. Water quantity can be a challenge in some areas, such as the semi-arid Western United States where water is viewed as a valuable and strategically important commodity. In fact, Coors US has a research and development program that seeks new barley varieties which require less water and better withstand drought conditions.

In the brewing process, water usage is measured as the total volume of water used for each volume of beer produced. Molson Coors water use ratio is about 5:1, one representing brewing water that is packaged as product, and the remaining water used for cleaning brew kettles, fermenting and aging tanks, and packaging lines. Some water is needed for rinsing bottles and cans prior to packaging and some is used for cooling machinery. Also included in the equation is water used in buildings to support needs of the workforce. The vast majority of cleaning and rinsing water is treated to meet or exceed regulated standards, and then discharged. A small percentage is lost to evaporation.

Since the merger of Coors Brewing Company and Molson Brewing Company, we have been score carding water usage at each of our 11 breweries in an effort to identify strategic ways in which we can use less water in production areas, thus reducing our impact on the environment and ensuring sustainable water sources. In 2008 Molson Coors Brewing Company set the rolling global target to reduce water use by 4%. 

We are an active member of the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER). Formed in August 2006, the objective of this working group is to bring together leading global beverage companies to define a common framework for stewardship, drive continuous improvement in industry practices and performance, and inform public policy in the areas of Water Conservation and Resource Protection, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Mitigation.