Bacardi Enhances Water Efficiency in Processing Founded in Cuba, Bacardi celebrates 150 years of operation in 2012.

Along with its celebrated rums, today the Bacardi family of brands includes a number of well-regarded iconic brands of vodka, gin, tequila, vermouth, and Scotch whisky, among others. Across all its operations, Bacardi prioritizes the efficient use of water. Water efficiency is measured by the water-use ratio. Factors that affect this benchmark indicator include facility size and the type of spirit distilled. Larger facilities are often able to operate more efficiently, and some beverages require a more intensive cooling process, which incorporates a greater amount of water. Furthermore, across the board, spirits producers have moved from only monitoring water usage internally to also evaluating the organizations and processes that make up their supply chains, including the agricultural production of raw materials and bottle manufacturing. In Bacardis case, the company set a goal to improve efficiency per production unit by 15 percent by this year. Bacardis global technical director recently announced that the company has far exceeded this objective, and has boosted water efficiency by 40 percent from a 2006 baseline reading.