Flemish brewers used more water because of Corona

Sixteen Flemish breweries that have joined the Flemish government's Green Deal to reduce their water consumption have used relativly more water this year because of Covid. 

In 2019 the breweries were able to save 289,080 cubic meters of water. But in 2020, with only 114,300 cubic meters or 45 Olympic swimming pools, ​ this number was reduced by more than 50%. This is partly explained by the corona pandemic, which led to lower production volumes.

 "Shorter production runs reduce the efficiency of water consumption. After all, certain machines and installations work optimally when there is sufficient volume," explains the VMM in a Green Deal progress report. "Less brewing does not lead to less rinsing and cleaning. Brewing processes that were usually carried out constantly could now run insufficiently, so that interim cleaning had to take place. These, of course, require additional water that is not needed in a continuous brewing process. Certain sub-processes also had to be kept running so that relatively speaking more water was consumed per liter of beer brewed."

The VMM's data relate to sixteen Flemish breweries that signed up to the Green Deal. The Green Deal Brewers is a collaboration between the sixteen Flemish breweries, the Flemish government, the professional association Belgian Brewers, the federation of the food industry Fevia and the knowledge center Vlakwa. Since the initiative started in September 2018, the breweries involved managed to save some 403,400 cubic meters of water - or 160 Olympic-sized swimming pools. For comparison, in 2018 ​ 67 Olympic-sized pools of drinking water were wasted every day because of waterleaks in Flanders.