Coca-Cola extracts largest amount of freshwater of any drinks company in England, FoI request finds

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Foreign multinational companies are extracting billions of litres of water from British aquifers to sell as bottled water, the Guardian can reveal.

Coca-Cola extracts the largest amount of freshwater of any drinks company in England, the data obtained through freedom of information legislation shows. It has a licence to extract 1.59bn litres of water a year from boreholes in Sidcup, Kent for its soft drinks. On top of that, it has the right to take 377m litres for its bottled water brands Glaceau Smartwater and Abbey Well from Morpeth in Northumberland.