MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The town of Herbertsdale, 40km from Mossel Bay, received more than 200 000 litres of clean water from Nestlé to help people there improve their livelihoods.
This was announced in a media statement from Nestlé this week.
The chairman and managing director of Nestlé: east and southern Africa region, Bruno Olierhoek, said: "Access to clean water and adequate sanitation is a fundamental human right.
"Protecting and preserving the water resources we share with others is therefore a major priority for us.
"We believe proactive, long-term engagement and partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders can help to define, implement and evaluate solutions to the complex environmental challenges we face,” Olierhoek said.
The donation will not only provide clean drinking water, but allow preventative hygiene measures such as regular washing of hands, as part of the interventions to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The food and manufacturing company’s relief efforts were applauded and welcomed by the leadership of the Mossel Bay Municipality.
Harry Levendal, Mossel Bay Municipality executive mayor, said. “We as the Mossel Bay Municipality and the village of Herbertsdale thank Nestlé for always being willing to assist our communities in times of challenges. Your assisting us in delivering a most critical resource - clean water - with your milk tankers during this challenging Covid-19 period, re-confirms that Nestlé takes the communities' needs to heart.”
Nestlé noted in the statement that Mossel Bay was subject to regular droughts and was declared a disaster area after one prolonged drought.
“This drought impact then prompted us to remodel our Nestlé dairy factory in the town, to become self-sufficient in water as much as possible by using water recovered from the milk evaporation process.
"The factory now has excellent, quality recycled water and is even able to generate energy from the process,” concluded Olierhoek.
The water donation forms part of the company’s ongoing Coronavirus relief efforts, which included last week’s monetary contributions of approximately R15 million to various funds across the region.
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