Anheuser-Busch InBev to cut down on water use

Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev plans to start making watered-down beer -- as in cutting down water usage in its production process to help make the company's operations more eco-friendly.

By the end of 2012, the company plans to whittle down its worldwide water use by 30 percent to 3.5 hectoliters of water for each hectoliter of product. Each hectoliter is about 26.4 gallons. In 2007, each hectoliter of production required 5.03 hectoliters of water. The company's brewery in Cartersville, Ga., has already reached the 3.1-hectoliter mark.

Reaching the goal would be the equivalent of saving enough water to fill 25,000 Olympic-size swimming pools, Anheuser-Busch InBev said. Since 2000, the brewer has already decreased water use by nearly 37 percent, it said.

Water is used in beer production and also for cleaning and cooling, said spokeswoman Marianne Amssoms. Much of the reduction will come from reusing water, such as recycling water from the brewing process to use for utilities.