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SCOTT JAGOW: Coca-Cola made a big announcement in China today — it’s going to try to conserve water. Coke uses 76 billion gallons of water every year to make its drinks. More now from Ashley Milne-Tyte.

ASHLEY MILNE-TYTE: Coke will strive to use less water to make its drinks. John Donoghue is with the World Wildlife Fund. They’re working with Coke on its water conservation project.

JOHN DONOGHUE: So there’s an amazing statistic that for every liter of Coke that’s produced, two-and-a-half litres of water are used to bottle and create the product — but 250 liters of water are used to grow sugar that goes into that product.

The idea is to use less water to grow the sugar. Patti Lynn of the watchdog group Corporate Accountability says this is a start. But she says Coke’s still misusing water all over the world.

PATTI LYNN: It’s been broadly criticized for disrespecting local communities in India where it’s draining massive amounts of water.

She says a company that spent $1.7 billion on advertising last year could be doing far more to conserve the world’s water supply.

I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.