It has of course been said often enough that water is the new (insert resource here), but that doesn't make it any less true, or any less important. And perhaps even more important at this point is the fact that companies large and small are making big commitments to cut their water footprints -- and achieving big successes in meeting those goals.

Over the last two years, we've reported on any number of large-scale and innovative efforts corporate leaders are making, and now that World Water Week is upon us once again, it's time to look back on some of those projects before we look ahead to the new, stepped-up goals these companies and many others will be making over the course of the week.

Below we present, in alphabetical order, some of the biggest and most impactful water commitments from the last two years.

1. AB InBev: Throughout this list, you'll see a handful of competitors that have been pushing each other further in their water goals. It's fitting, then, to start with Anheuser-Busch InBev, which earlier this year announced its intent to become the world's greenest brewer, in part by reducing water consumption by 30 percent by 2012, relative to its 2007 baseline -- a move that the company says would make it the world's most water-efficient brewer. AB InBev is aiming to reach a 3.5 : 1 ratio of water used per liter of product, down from 4.3 : 1 in 2009. At least two of the company's breweries have already reached a 3.1 : 1 ratio already, showing how much progress is possible.

2. Abbott: This pharmaceutical company has put its water use to a "stress test" in order to meet a 40 percent reduction goal by 2011. The efforts have proceeded admirably: As of late 2009, Abbott had already cut its water use by 37 percent, and in the process was saving 1 billion gallons of water per year. The stress tests came by way of the WBCSD's Global Water Tool, and shows how simple projects like identifying leaks in manufacturing facilities can add up to big savings.

3. Coca-Cola: The first of another matched-set of industry rivals that are swimming neck-and-neck in water-reduction efforts, Coke in 2008 teamed up with the World Wildlife Fund to improve water efficiency 20 percent by 2012, relative to a 2004 baseline. And the company is working to improve water quality in areas of the world where it does business; for World Water Day 2010 in March, Coca-Cola added $12.7 million to its commitment to the Water and Development Alliance. Among the Coca-Cola family of companies, water efficiencies are trickling in as well: Coca-Cola Enterprises, the production and distribution arm of the soda empire, has cut the water used in production by nearly 6 percent since 2007, and plans to cut it by an additional 20 percent in the next 10 years.

4. Gap: The clothing giant has been wearing its water use on it sleeve of late -- or at least on the seat of its pants. Last year, the company began including on the product label the word about its efforts to make sure that water leaving its manufacturing facilities is at least as clean as when it entered. The company developed its guidelines in partnership with BSR's Sustainable Water Group; by the end of 2008, 71 Gap laundries had complied with the program, and the company is working with the 19 failing laundries to create corrective action plans.

5. General Electric: As part of the company's ambitious -- and highly profitable -- ecomagination initiative, GE in 2008 committed to a 20 percent reduction in water use by 2012. In 2009, we got a glimpse of how the company was going about achieving that goal when the company showed off how a data center efficiency project cut water use by 20 percent per year, reaching annual savings of 2 million gallons. Those successes led GE to up the ante earlier this year, when its 2009 sustainability report set a water reduction goal of 30 percent over its 2004 baseline.