Water Stewardship
At Pilgrim’s, water stewardship is crucial to our long-term viability. Company Wide, our approach to water stewardship is defined at the corporate level, but individual goals are developed at each facility to ensure ownership and accountability. We work closely and collaboratively with federal, state and local municipalities to address complex issues and jointly develop sustainable solutions. Finally, every facility invests capital annually to help ensure it stays in alignment with and committed to our Environmental Policy while appropriately addressing local challenges and supporting water reduction initiatives.
Each of our production and further processing facilities has a wastewater treatment program specifically tailored to that facility’s discharge permit requirements.
Water Stewardship
At Pilgrim’s, water stewardship is crucial to our long-term viability. Company Wide, our approach to water stewardship is defined at the corporate level, but individual goals are developed at each facility to ensure ownership and accountability. We work closely and collaboratively with federal, state and local municipalities to address complex issues and jointly develop sustainable solutions. Finally, every facility invests capital annually to help ensure it stays in alignment with and committed to our Environmental Policy while appropriately addressing local challenges and supporting water reduction initiatives.
Each of our production and further processing facilities has a wastewater treatment program specifically tailored to that facility’s discharge permit requirements.
Water Stewardship
At Pilgrim’s, water stewardship is crucial to our long-term viability. Company Wide, our approach to water stewardship is defined at the corporate level, but individual goals are developed at each facility to ensure ownership and accountability. We work closely and collaboratively with federal, state and local municipalities to address complex issues and jointly develop sustainable solutions. Finally, every facility invests capital annually to help ensure it stays in alignment with and committed to our Environmental Policy while appropriately addressing local challenges and supporting water reduction initiatives.
Each of our production and further processing facilities has a wastewater treatment program specifically tailored to that facility’s discharge permit requirements.
2022 Progress
We track both total water use and water use intensity (water use per lb. of finished product including by-products) to consistently identify opportunities for improvements, irrespective of changes in production. In 2022 across our global facilities, we used 15.8 billion gallons of water, drawing 74.3% of this water from public municipalities, 23.6% from groundwater sources, and 2.1% from surface water, including streams. Unfortunately, from 2019 to 2022, our global water use intensity increased by 12% (gallons per pound of finished product). The increased sanitation measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 throughout our operations are still in place and continue to drive our water usage rate. We remain focused on reducing usage of this critical resource while maintaining our high team member and food safety standards. To help drive change, we have made water use a key performance indicator at our plants.
In 2022, all of our facilities held permits to discharge wastewater according to applicable wastewater treatment requirements. We maintain and, where needed, improve facilities and wastewater programs to be in compliance with permits, laws and regulations. Discharged water is measured for its overall quality at each facility to ensure it meets permitting requirements. In the rare event that a facility exceeds its permit limits, the facility will work with its applicable regulatory agency and permit conditions to prevent any recurrence of exceedance. The majority, 65%, of discharged water is sent to city-owned treatment centers, while 26% is discharged into non-municipalities, and 9% is used as land irrigation.
2022 Progress
We track both total water use and water use intensity (water use per lb. of finished product including by-products) to consistently identify opportunities for improvements, irrespective of changes in production. In 2022 across our global facilities, we used 15.8 billion gallons of water, drawing 74.3% of this water from public municipalities, 23.6% from groundwater sources, and 2.1% from surface water, including streams. Unfortunately, from 2019 to 2022, our global water use intensity increased by 12% (gallons per pound of finished product). The increased sanitation measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 throughout our operations are still in place and continue to drive our water usage rate. We remain focused on reducing usage of this critical resource while maintaining our high team member and food safety standards. To help drive change, we have made water use a key performance indicator at our plants.
In 2022, all of our facilities held permits to discharge wastewater according to applicable wastewater treatment requirements. We maintain and, where needed, improve facilities and wastewater programs to be in compliance with permits, laws and regulations. Discharged water is measured for its overall quality at each facility to ensure it meets permitting requirements. In the rare event that a facility exceeds its permit limits, the facility will work with its applicable regulatory agency and permit conditions to prevent any recurrence of exceedance. The majority, 65%, of discharged water is sent to city-owned treatment centers, while 26% is discharged into non-municipalities, and 9% is used as land irrigation.
2022 Progress
We track both total water use and water use intensity (water use per lb. of finished product including by-products) to consistently identify opportunities for improvements, irrespective of changes in production. In 2022 across our global facilities, we used 15.8 billion gallons of water, drawing 74.3% of this water from public municipalities, 23.6% from groundwater sources, and 2.1% from surface water, including streams. Unfortunately, from 2019 to 2022, our global water use intensity increased by 12% (gallons per pound of finished product). The increased sanitation measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 throughout our operations are still in place and continue to drive our water usage rate. We remain focused on reducing usage of this critical resource while maintaining our high team member and food safety standards. To help drive change, we have made water use a key performance indicator at our plants.
In 2022, all of our facilities held permits to discharge wastewater according to applicable wastewater treatment requirements. We maintain and, where needed, improve facilities and wastewater programs to be in compliance with permits, laws and regulations. Discharged water is measured for its overall quality at each facility to ensure it meets permitting requirements. In the rare event that a facility exceeds its permit limits, the facility will work with its applicable regulatory agency and permit conditions to prevent any recurrence of exceedance. The majority, 65%, of discharged water is sent to city-owned treatment centers, while 26% is discharged into non-municipalities, and 9% is used as land irrigation.
Water Performance
Water Performance
Water Performance
Water Body | Municipality | Land Application | Other | Total | |
U.S. & Puerto Rico | 2,171,143,011 | 6,705,548,190 | 1,033,682,139 | - | 9,910,373,340 |
Mexico | 851,076,592 | 56,105,906 | 6,584,487 | - | 913,766,985 |
Europe | 254,211,580 | 1,141,229,829 | - | - | 1,395,441,409 |
2022 | |
U.S. & Puerto Rico | 2,217,462,339 |
Mexico | 666,625,616 |
Europe* | 655,586,301 |
*Includes Pilgrim’s Moy Park, Pilgrim’s UK, and Pilgrim's Food Masters (2021 and 2022 only)
**We make every effort to report accurate data. We provide updated data from previous years in cases where improved information is available. Pilgrim’s revisited data collection processes and as a result, this report includes some improved metrics from past years.
*Includes Pilgrim’s Moy Park, Pilgrim’s UK, and Pilgrim's Food Masters (2021 and 2022 only)
**We make every effort to report accurate data. We provide updated data from previous years in cases where improved information is available. Pilgrim’s revisited data collection processes and as a result, this report includes some improved metrics from past years.
*Includes Pilgrim’s Moy Park, Pilgrim’s UK, and Pilgrim's Food Masters (2021 and 2022 only)
**We make every effort to report accurate data. We provide updated data from previous years in cases where improved information is available. Pilgrim’s revisited data collection processes and as a result, this report includes some improved metrics from past years.
Water Risk Assessment
Pilgrim’s has conducted a comprehensive water risk assessment, inclusive of quantity (baseline water stress, inter-annual variability, seasonal variability, flood occurrence, drought severity, upstream storage and groundwater storage), quality (return flow ratio and upstream protected land) and regulatory and reputational risk (media coverage, access to water and threatened amphibians) for each Pilgrim’s facility location. Overall water risk identifies areas with higher exposure to these water-related risks. As indicated in the graphic below, the majority of our facilities are low to medium or medium to high risk as defined by the World Resources Institute Aqueduct, 2014.
The water risk assessment is a critical element of our water stewardship strategy and allows us to identify and prioritize specific water resource projects that are locally relevant to each watershed and reduce the company’s overall water impact.
Water Risk Assessment
Pilgrim’s has conducted a comprehensive water risk assessment, inclusive of quantity (baseline water stress, inter-annual variability, seasonal variability, flood occurrence, drought severity, upstream storage and groundwater storage), quality (return flow ratio and upstream protected land) and regulatory and reputational risk (media coverage, access to water and threatened amphibians) for each Pilgrim’s facility location. Overall water risk identifies areas with higher exposure to these water-related risks. As indicated in the graphic below, the majority of our facilities are low to medium or medium to high risk as defined by the World Resources Institute Aqueduct, 2014.
The water risk assessment is a critical element of our water stewardship strategy and allows us to identify and prioritize specific water resource projects that are locally relevant to each watershed and reduce the company’s overall water impact.
Water Risk Assessment
Pilgrim’s has conducted a comprehensive water risk assessment, inclusive of quantity (baseline water stress, inter-annual variability, seasonal variability, flood occurrence, drought severity, upstream storage and groundwater storage), quality (return flow ratio and upstream protected land) and regulatory and reputational risk (media coverage, access to water and threatened amphibians) for each Pilgrim’s facility location. Overall water risk identifies areas with higher exposure to these water-related risks. As indicated in the graphic below, the majority of our facilities are low to medium or medium to high risk as defined by the World Resources Institute Aqueduct, 2014.
The water risk assessment is a critical element of our water stewardship strategy and allows us to identify and prioritize specific water resource projects that are locally relevant to each watershed and reduce the company’s overall water impact.
