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Unilever Water Stewardship Programme

Water is essential across our value chain. Farmers need it to grow our ingredients. Our factories rely on it as process water to manufacture, and it is also a key ingredient in many of our products. And our consumers need water to use those products, from hair care and soaps to cleaning and laundry.

Extreme weather and higher temperatures can lead to water shortages and droughts that adversely impact people and nature. They are also likely to cause commodity delays, reduce crop yields and increase prices of raw materials, and could lower consumer demand for water-dependent products.

But we have an important opportunity to address this and increase business resilience. For example, we are working with farmers to implement regenerative agriculture practices that use less water, and developing water-free product formats, such as laundry sheets.

We also recognise the importance of being a good water steward in the areas where we operate. As part of our work to protect and regenerate nature, we have set a target to implement water stewardship programmes for 100% of our production sites in water-stressed locations by 2030. By the end of 2025, we had introduced programmes for 29 sites[a]. These include a mix of:

  • Water stewardship initiatives with partners in the community local to the factory, such as water replenishment or nature-based solutions
  • Water stewardship initiatives within the factory itself, such as reusing and recycling water for use in manufacturing processes

This interactive map[b] shows the water stewardship programmes we have implemented for our sites[c], and the expected benefits for Unilever, people and nature.

Some of our projects

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Unilever Hassi Ameur factory

  • Partner:
    WWF North Africa
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever's Hassi Ameur factory, which manufactures home care and personal care products.
  • Programme details:
    The Oranais-Dahra Wetland Complex in Wilaya of Oran faces significant water stress from drought, climate change, groundwater depletion, pollution, and wetland degradation, which poses risks to ecosystems, communities, and long-term business continuity.
  • Delivered in partnership with WWF North Africa, this programme focuses on wetland restoration, groundwater recharge enhancement, habitat rehabilitation, ecosystem-based water management and biodiversity conservation, as well as stakeholder governance, and community awareness programmes, to help restore Lake Telamine's hydrological functions.
Officials and project staff stand outdoors discussing a development project beside an informational signboard.
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Unilever Mendoza factory

  • Partner:
    Technoserve
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever’s Mendoza factory, which produces foods products.
  • Programme details:
    In the Mendoza agricultural belt and San Juan Province, Unilever has partnered with Technoserve to reduce water withdrawals and drive uptake of regenerative agriculture on 150ha across up to seven vegetable farms producing crops such as pumpkin, garlic, onion, potato, tomato, spinach, and leek.
  • Measures include use of technology to improve irrigation practices, and farmer training, technical assistance, and financial incentives for participating suppliers.
Solar-powered sensor monitoring a tomato field beside a parked inspection van under clear blue sky.
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Unilever Valinhos factory

  • Partner:
    The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever's Valinhos factory, which manufacturers personal care products.
  • Programme description:
    The Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí (PCJ) river basins are strategically important for serving the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, but they are water-stressed, facing increasing pressure from urbanisation, economic growth, and competing water demands.
  • Delivered in partnership with TNC, this programme focuses on watershed restoration and conservation of native vegetation, working with rural producers on capacity building and nursery strengthening, and the expansion of municipal restoration programmes and local water governance.
Hands wearing a metal watch gently planting a small green sapling in dry soil.
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Unilever Panamericana factory

  • Partner:
    Ingeniería Sin Fronteras Chile (Engineers without Borders)
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever's Conchalí plant, which produces home care and personal care products.
  • Programme description:
    Central Chile is among the world’s most water-stressed regions, facing declining rainfall, water quality challenges, infrastructure gaps, aquifer depletion, and increasing climate risks. These pressures pose a risk to community water security and the long-term resilience of water-dependent business operations.
  • By partnering with Ingeniería Sin Fronteras Chile in the Maipo River Basin, Unilever seeks to improve water access for communities within a 50km radius of its factory in Conchalí. The programme includes a range of measures such as irrigation efficiency improvements, rural water system upgrades, water storage and reuse infrastructure, and capacity building.
Two workers inspect an excavator digging a trench on a construction site.
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Unilever Nicosia factory

  • Partner:
    Cyprus Environmental Foundation (CEF)
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever’s Nicosia factory, which manufactures personal care products.
  • Programme details:
    Cyprus experiences high levels of water stress, with declining rainfall, prolonged droughts and degraded soils. This reduces the capacity of agricultural land to retain water and withstand climate change impacts. In the Troodos foothills and surrounding valleys, rural agricultural communities in Larnaca and Limassol Districts are highly exposed to water scarcity.
  • Partnering with CEF, Unilever is working to drive uptake of regenerative agriculture and circular resource management, through measures such as scaling community composting, and training farmers on agricultural practices that help increase soil water retention.
Three piles of wood mulch on tarps in an outdoor agricultural area with trees in the background
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Unilever 6th October Factory

  • Partner:
    Egyptian Food Bank (EFB)
  • Project aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever 6th October factory, which produces home care and personal care products.
  • Programme description:
    The Moghra Aquifer region in Egypt's Western Desert faces severe water stress driven by rapid agricultural expansion in the New Delta area. Farmers rely almost exclusively on groundwater from the Moghra Aquifer for irrigation, but intensive water abstraction and increasing salinity are placing severe pressure on the aquifer, posing a risk to agricultural productivity, community resilience, and business water security.
  • Delivered in partnership with EFB, this programme includes measures such as training smallholder farmers on irrigation optimisation and upgrading water infrastructure, to increase farmer resilience to water scarcity and salinity.
Four people inspect young crops and drip irrigation lines in a large sandy field under a clear sky.
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Unilever Cikarang factories

  • Partner:
    Jejakin
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever’s five manufacturing facilities in the Jababeka Industrial Estate, producing home care, personal care and foods products.
  • Programme description:
    The Citarum Basin in West Java, which supplies water to the Jatiluhur Reservoir, faces water stress from deforestation, erosion, urban expansion, declining water quality, reduced aquifer recharge and climate change impacts. These challenges risk impacting people and industries dependent on the basin.
  • Unilever's seeks to improve infiltration, groundwater recharge and water accessibility by partnering with Jejakin to restore the upstream Citarum Watershed, Purwakarta Regency. Measures in the programme range from spring restoration, agroforestry and bamboo planting to Internet of Things (IoT)-based monitoring.
Worker kneeling on soil carefully planting a young tree sapling in a forested area
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Unilever Lerma factory

  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever's Lerma factory, which produces foods products.
  • Programme details:
    The Valley of Mexico has extremely low water availability, with less than 200m³ per inhabitant per year. Groundwater dependence from the Toluca Valley aquifer, forest degradation, and wildfire impacts increase risks to water security and long-term business resilience.
  • In Salazar, Lerma Municipality, State of Mexico, this programme seeks to reforest native trees (pine and oak species) in a forest area previously affected by wildfires, supported by local the local community.
Employees work together planting trees on a sunny green hillside during a corporate volunteer day
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Unilever Monterrey factory

  • Partner:
    Toroto
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever’s Monterrey factory, which makes beauty and personal care products.
  • Programme details:
    The Bravo–San Juan Basin spans approximately 33,462 km² and serves more than 6.2 million people. But extensive soil degradation, erosion, loss of recharge zones, ecosystem degradation, and increasing pressure from agricultural, urban, and industrial water demand pose risk to long-term water security.
  • Delivered in partnership with Toroto, this programme includes groundwater recharge and ecosystem restoration at Nuevo León and Coahuila, in the Monterrey metropolitan watershed where we operate. By focusing on nature restoration, we aim to improve ecosystem health, increase groundwater infiltration, and strengthen community water governance.
Dry desert trail leading toward distant blue mountains under a clear sky
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Unilever Lagos factory

  • Partner:
    Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF)
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever's Lagos factory, which makes personal care and beauty products.
  • Programme details:
    The Ogun River Watershed is a critical freshwater resource supporting agriculture, urban communities, and local industries in southwestern Nigeria. But it faces severe ecological degradation from deforestation, sand mining, agricultural runoff, urbanisation, siltation, and water quality deterioration. Growing urban demand adds pressure to water resources and public health.
  • In partnership with NCF, this programme seeks to restore degraded habitat while also seizing opportunities to deploy boreholes, rainwater harvesting systems, and other water efficiency interventions with local communities.
Signboard for the Olokemeji Reforestation Project 2021–2031 standing beside a lush green forest path
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Unilever Lahore factory

  • Partner:
    WWF Pakistan
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever Pakistan Foods Ltd., Lahore.
  • Programme details:
    Lahore faces severe water stress driven by population growth, excessive groundwater abstraction, pollution, declining groundwater levels, climate change, and challenges around wastewater management. This poses a risk to community water security and Unilever’s long-term resilience at our factory, which relies on groundwater from the Punjab Aquifer.
  • Delivered in partnership with WWF Pakistan, and focusing on the Ravi River catchment, Punjab Aquifer, and the peri-urban areas of Phool Nagar and Manga Mandi, this programme seeks to improve water infrastructure to increase groundwater recharge, while enhancing stakeholder awareness.
Two women at a community workshop hold a hygiene kit in front of a water stewardship banner.
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Unilever Rahim Yar Khan (RYK) factory

  • Partner:
    WWF Pakistan
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever Pakistan’s RYK manufacturing facility, which makes personal care products.
  • Programme details:
    Rahim Yar Khan (RYK), a major city in the Punjab province, is in a highly water-stressed region where surface water supplies are vulnerable, groundwater abstraction is increasing, and water demand already exceeds available supply. Climate change, agricultural competition for water, and declining water security pose risks to communities, ecosystems, and Unilever’s long-term operations.
  • Delivered in partnership with WWF Pakistan, this programme is focused on wetland areas and improvements to local water infrastructure, and involves various initiatives designed to increase community engagement.
Four factory workers stand near large stainless steel tanks at an industrial processing plant
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Unilever Boksburg factory

  • Partner:
    WWF South Africa
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever’s Boksburg factory, which makes homecare products.
  • Programme details:
    The Vaal system faces increasing pressure from climate change, invasive alien plants, land degradation, pollution, and growing water demand. These pose a risk to regional water security and the long-term resilience of Unilever’s operations.
  • Delivered in partnership with WWF South Africa, this programme focuses on the Northern Drakensberg Strategic Water Source Area, KwaZulu-Natal, which supplies water to the Vaal Dam, a key source for Gauteng and Unilever’s Boksburg operations. Its scope includes the restoration of natural ecosystems and springs, and river catchment management interventions.
Green hills frame a distant valley town beneath layered blue mountains and a cloudy sky.
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Unilever Kanyisha factory

  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever’s Kanyisha factory, which makes homecare products.
  • Programme details:
    The Vaal system faces increasing pressure from climate change, invasive alien plants, land degradation, pollution, and growing water demand. These pose a risk to regional water security and the long-term resilience of Unilever’s operations.
  • Delivered in partnership with WWF South Africa, this programme focuses on the Northern Drakensberg Strategic Water Source Area, KwaZulu-Natal, which supplies water to the Vaal Dam, a key source for Gauteng and Unilever’s Boksburg operations. Its scope includes the restoration of natural ecosystems and springs, and river catchment management interventions.
Green hills frame a distant valley town beneath layered blue mountains and a cloudy sky.
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Unilever Besan factory

  • Programme aims:
    Support the water resilience of Unilever’s Besan factory, which produces foods products.
  • Programme details:
    We are working on water management improvements at our Besan site in Turkey to drive greater water efficiency. Initiatives include deployment of Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled monitoring and upgrades to systems that aim to optimise water use, faster detect leaks, and reduce water losses. A stronger data-driven water management approach enhances operational control, with the potential to lower utility costs for Unilever.
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Unilever Konya factory

  • Partner:
    DKM
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Unilever’s factory in the Konya Closed Basin, which makes home care and personal care products.
  • Programme details:
    The Konya Closed Basin experiences severe water stress, climate change impacts, groundwater depletion, and high irrigation demand, with agriculture consuming much of the region's water resources. These pressures pose risks to water security, agricultural productivity, and business resilience.
  • Delivered in partnership with DKM, this programme in Burunoba Village, Karaman Province, focuses on community engagement and tree planting to increase soil water retention and boost biodiversity.
Women in headscarves smile and hold herbs together in a sunny community garden.
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Unilever Dubai factory

  • Programme aims:
    Support the water resilience of Unilever H&PC Products Manufacturing LLC, Dubai, which makes homecare and personal care products.
  • Programme details:
    Dubai Industrial City in Dubai is under high water stress. Although our site has already taken strides to improve water efficiency in recent years, further optimisation is required to strengthen long-term water resilience.
  • Unilever is taking a range of measures across production lines and processes and reusing of treated wastewater for utilities. The factory is aiming to lower utility costs and increase site resilience in a water-scarce region.
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Gandhidham factory

  • Partner:
    BAIF Development Research Foundation
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever’s Limited (HUL)’s Bhuj factory, which manufactures personal care and beauty products.
  • Programme details:
    The nearby industrial hub of Gandhidham is situated in the water-stressed Kutch landscape, characterised by low and variable rainfall, arid conditions, coastal influence and substantial industrial and urban water demand. Scarce freshwater resources need to be protected from quality deterioration and competing-use pressures.
  • Delivered in partnership with BAIF Development Research Foundation, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Bhuj aims to enhance industrial-community engagement and improve water governance, and includes initiatives on water efficiency, monitoring and reuse.
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Chhindwara factory

  • Partner:
    Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Chhindwara factory, which makes home care products.
  • Programme details:
    Chhindwara’s undulating landscape, seasonal rainfall and predominantly hard-rock hydrogeology create opportunities to improve retention of monsoon water, while making more efficient use of water for agriculture.
  • Delivered in partnership with Parmath Samaj Sansthan, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Chhindwara focuses on actions including good water governance, land restoration and water quality improvement, complemented by demand reduction through improved sustainable agricultural practices, to strengthen the capacity of communities to respond to rainfall variability.
Small concrete weir channels river water through gates amid dense green vegetation
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Etah factory

  • Partner:
    Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Etah factory, which processes tea.
  • Programme details:
    Etah is characterised by extensive and productive alluvial aquifers with good natural groundwater-storage potential, but intensive agriculture creates sustained groundwater demand and a recharge deficit relative to extraction.
  • Delivered in partnership with Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Etah focuses on managing water demand. Our focus includes promoting sustainable agricultural practices on the demand side as well as targeting better recharge on the supply side, involving the local community. This integrated approach seeks to improve water productivity while maintaining the long-term resilience of the underlying aquifer.
Farmer tending young seedlings in a field covered with plastic mulch on a sunny day
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Hosur factory

  • Partner:
    Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Hosur factory, which processes tea.
  • Programme details:
    Hosur is a rapidly industrialising and urbanising landscape where industrial and domestic demand increasingly competes with agricultural dependence on groundwater. This creates a shared challenge around sustainable water availability, efficient water use and protection of water quality.
  • Delivered in partnership with Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Hosur seeks to improve water demand management and productivity, particularly through improved agricultural practices and efficient irrigation, alongside measures that enhance water availability. Given the industrial context, water quality monitoring, wastewater treatment and reuse are also important components of the programme.
Field officer speaks with women farmers standing among white flowers in a covered greenhouse
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Kandla factory

  • Partner:
    Aga Khan Agency for Habitat India
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever’s Limited (HUL)’s Kandla factory, which manufactures personal care and homecare products.
  • Programme details:
    Kandla is situated in the arid and coastal Kutch landscape, where low and highly variable rainfall, limited freshwater availability, salinity risks and major port and industrial activity create a particularly challenging shared water environment.
  • Delivered in partnership with Aga Khan Agency for Habitat India, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Kandla focuses on strengthening water availability and protecting water quality, given the scarcity of freshwater and the sensitivity of coastal resources. Such measures include interventions that help retain scarce rainfall, while efficient water use and sustainable agricultural practices reduce demand. Water-quality monitoring, wastewater treatment and reuse help protect freshwater resources, while stakeholder engagement and community institutions strengthen governance.
A narrow river with green vegetation flows through dry farmland crossed by metal power line towers.
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Khamgaon factory

  • Partner:
    Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever’s Limited (HUL)’s Khamgaon factory, which manufactures personal care products.
  • Programme details:
    Khamgaon lies within the semi-arid Vidarbha landscape, where rainfall is strongly seasonal, agriculture is dependent on monsoon performance and groundwater occurs largely through weathered and fractured basaltic formations.
  • Delivered in partnership with Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Khamgaon includes efforts on both recharge enhancement and agricultural demand reduction, with the relative focus determined by local aquifer and agricultural conditions. Measures include working to improve retention of monsoon runoff, improvements to irrigation, and sustainable agricultural practices, coupled with community engagement.
Signboard for an organic farming project stands in a lush green crop field with rows of plants.
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Nabha factory

  • Partner:
    Adarsh Seva Samiti
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Nabha factory, which makes foods products.
  • Programme details:
    Nabha is part of Punjab's intensively cultivated agricultural landscape, where groundwater-dependent irrigation and water-intensive cropping systems have created sustained pressure on groundwater resources.
  • Delivered in partnership with Adarsh Seva Samiti, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Nabha focuses on the demand side of sustainable water balance, and involves measures such as promoting improved irrigation, sustainable agricultural practices and crop diversification to reduce water requirements while protecting farmer livelihoods. Additionally, there are actions to strengthen water resilience with the local community, including enhanced water governance to reduce long-term groundwater stress.
Aerial view of a large green field with a white marker and nearby solar panels at the edge.
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Orai factory

  • Partner:
    Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever’s Limited (HUL)’s Orai factory, which makes personal care products.
  • Programme details:
    Orai lies within the Bundelkhand–Yamuna landscape, where seasonal rainfall variability, agricultural dependence and uneven water availability create recurring challenges for communities and farming systems.
  • Delivered in partnership with Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Orai includes actions to improve local water harvesting, resource restoration, and agricultural practices to increase water productivity and strengthen resilience to rainfall variability. It also involves community engagement to support governance of shared water resources. By linking supply-side water management with demand-side agricultural efficiency, ecosystem restoration and community ownership, the programme seeks to strengthen the resilience of the catchment and support more sustainable livelihoods under increasing climate and water-related risks.
Hands holding a pile of rich, dark compost with visible organic matter
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Puducherry factory

  • Partner:
    Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)'s Puducherry factory, which makes home care products.
  • Programme details:
    Puducherry's coastal setting creates a distinctive shared water challenge in which groundwater dependence, urbanisation, agriculture and the risk of saline intrusion interact with seasonal rainfall variability. Protecting freshwater aquifers therefore requires both demand management and careful management of recharge and water quality.
  • Delivered in partnership with Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Puducherry includes a variety of measures to help retain monsoon water and strengthen freshwater reservoirs, and to reduce pressure on supply through wastewater treatment and reuse.
Aerial view of two small lakes surrounded by green fields, trees, and a nearby village settlement.
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Rajpura factory

  • Partner:
    Adarsh Seva Samiti
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Rajpura factory, which produces foods products.
  • Programme details:
    Rajpura is situated within Punjab's intensive agricultural landscape, where groundwater-dependent irrigation and water-intensive cropping create sustained pressure on groundwater resources.
  • Delivered in partnership with Adarsh Seva Samiti, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Rajpura focuses on improving local agricultural water productivity, as well as collective water governance and local ownership of water resources, supported by water-quality monitoring and collaborations with the local community.
Small rural pond with green water, central tree island, and surrounding trees and farm buildings
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Sonipat factory

  • Partner:
    Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)'s Sonipat factory, which makes foods products.
  • Programme details:
    Sonipat forms part of one of North India's highly productive but groundwater-stressed agricultural landscapes, where intensive irrigation and water-demanding cropping systems place sustained pressure on groundwater resources. The principal stewardship opportunity is therefore to reduce agricultural water demand while maintaining farmer productivity and incomes.
  • Delivered in partnership with Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Sonipat focuses on the demand side of sustainable water balance, improved governance, and community participation in managing shared groundwater resources.
Agricultural field with a worker inspecting crop rows near a small blue-roofed utility structure.
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Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Sumerpur factory

  • Partner:
    Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan
  • Programme aims:
    Support water resilience at and near Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)’s Sumerpur factory, which manufactures home care products.
  • Programme details:
    Sumerpur in Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh, lies within the water-stressed Bundelkhand landscape, where erratic rainfall, hard-rock hydrogeology, limited groundwater storage and pronounced seasonal scarcity constrain agricultural and community water security.
  • Delivered in partnership with Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan, the Prabhat Water Stewardship Programme in Sumerpur include initiatives that improve water availability, for example through harvesting, watershed restoration and recharge infrastructure. The programme also aims to improve irrigation and sustainable agricultural practices so that newly created water availability is not offset by increased extraction. Water quality interventions complete the integrated approach.
Two workers inspect a concrete water structure beside a calm, reflective reservoir in a rural landscape

Beyond our factory walls, our work depends on partnerships with a wide range of local organisations who bring deep expertise and strong community networks.

We are also exploring water stewardship partnerships with other major companies who share the same river basins as Unilever.

[a]

Excluding factory sites for our Ice Cream business which was demerged on 6 December 2025.

[b]

Data presented on this map is based on self-reported figures calculated with partners. These figures have not been externally verified and may include estimates or projections.

[c]

By 31 December 2025.

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