Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE:DPS) and The Nature Conservancy are once again teaming up on environmental stewardship projects to protect vital water resources.
Over the next three years, DPS will give $750,000 to support watershed protection along the American and Sacramento Rivers in Northern California and the Los Angeles River in Southern California, which are fundamental to health and prosperity of the 37 million people that reside in the Golden State.
The new California projects build on a longstanding partnership between DPS and The Nature Conservancy. Since 2012, DPS has committed $2 million to The Nature Conservancy in Texas to focus on several watershed conservation projects in the company’s home state.
“Our work with The Nature Conservancy takes our focus on water beyond our operations to the watersheds in our communities,” said Kelly Smith, senior director, government affairs and sustainability at Dr Pepper Snapple Group. “We are proud of the impacts our contributions have made in our home state of Texas, and we hope the action we’ll be taking out west will bring Californiaanother step forward in its conservation efforts.”
DPS relies on the state’s freshwater resources for its production facilities in Sacramento, Vernon and Victorville.
The American, Sacramento and Los Angeles Rivers are crucial to California’s water supply and water infrastructure, and the support from DPS will be used primarily for water quality assessment, developing natural infrastructure for capturing and cleaning storm water and ongoing conservation activities to preserve the land and waters that support the hydrology of the state.
“We are thankful for Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s commitment to conserving the most important resource on our planet – water,” said Jason Pelletier, Director of California Lands Program at The Nature Conservancy. “Southern California and the Central Valley are home to approximately 76 percent of the state’s population, so the conservation work that DPS supports will help ensure Californians have access to clean, reliable sources of water for many years to come.”
The investment in ongoing conservation and freshwater protection for California water will focus on clean and ample water for the state, including increasing water flow and conserving and restoring the land at the headwaters of some of California’s most important rivers.
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American and Sacramento Rivers
The American and Sacramento Rivers are two of the most critical rivers in California and deliver water to farms, business and households in many areas of the state and as far south as Los Angeles. The water from these rivers must travel a great distance, so protecting the land at the headwaters and studying river health and water quality is critical for ensuring clean water is delivered to those that rely on fresh supply.
Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River currently carries treated waste water and storm water, but the city of Los Angeles has a vision to increase reliance on local water sources, and capturing more storm water is important to this goal. To make this a reality, the Conservancy is creating a Los Angeles River demonstration project, which will show that with green infrastructure and native plants, storm water can be captured, cleaned and filtered.
SOURCE Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.
