Bottled Water // Current

The Latest in the Bottled Water Mania: Water From Under North Korea's Demilitarized Zone | | AlterNe

I understand the desire for a pristine source but this might be going too far.

Monkey_Films
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Millions of Taxpayer Dollars Flow to Bottled Water

States in the Northeast have set aside or spent between $228,874 and $527,107 a year for bottled water, according to a new report Getting States Off the Bottle released today by Corporate Accountability International. The states surveyed include four Northeastern states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Pennsylvania – all known for their high quality tap water.

The findings come as public water systems face a $24 billion annual shortfall, and during financial times where states can ill afford to be spending public dollars on such a non-essential use of an essential public resource.

“Not only is the spending patently wasteful at a time when states can not afford unnecessary expenses, but it broadcasts the absolute wrong message about our high quality tap water,” said Connecticut State Representative Richard Roy, Chair of the House Environmental Committee.

Roy is one of hundreds of public officials nationwide that are now calling for taxpayer dollars to cease flowing to bottled water. In 2008, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, representing more than 1200 mayors, passed a resolution encouraging mayors to phase out city spending on bottled water. To date, more than 100 cities have taken action to cut spending on bottled water or support public water systems as well as three states, including Illinois, Virginia and New York.

Governors and mayors are stewards of public water systems, responsible for overseeing budgets that provide the overwhelming majority of public funding for this essential public service. But the need for greater investment in these systems is growing rapidly, while public fundings for these systems languishes.

A major cause of the gap in funding has been the marketing and promotion of bottled water. Marketing campaigns, such as Nestlé’s Born Better, have convinced one in five people to believe the only place to get clean drinking water is from a bottle. And as public confidence in tap water has waned, so too has the political will to invest in public water.

“Swift action by governors to cut bottled water spending can be a strong first step in restoring public water systems and the public’s confidence in them,” said Kelle Louaillier, executive director of Corporate Accountability International.

After all, up to forty percent of bottled water sold comes from the same source as tap water. Tap water is also more highly regulated than what comes in the bottle.

Public education campaigns like Think Outside the Bottle are, however, restoring confidence in public water systems. A recent Harris Poll found that 29 percent of people switched from bottled to tap water in the last year. An overall decline in the North American bottled water market reflects this shift in behavior and attitude toward the tap. However, state action is still lagging. While each state profiled in the report has taken some steps to allocate funding towards water infrastructure – such as dedicating funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to water systems – even these steps are a drop in the bucket compared to what will be needed to close the gap.

“During these tough economic times our states need to be thinking, ‘we should only spend scarce public dollars on projects that grow the economy at large not just the bottom line for a handful of private corporations,’” said Louaillier. “Investment in public water is, in this respect, one of the wisest investments we can make.”

According to a U.S. Conference of Mayors report, every dollar invested in public water generates more than six for the economy at large in the long term.

For the full report visit www.StopCorporateAbuse.org/GettingStatesOffTheBottleStates in the Northeast have set aside or spent between $228,874 and $527,107 a year... more

JanforGore
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South Korea markets demilitarized zone bottled water

"Designer water connoisseurs can try a new tipple, directly sourced from the... more

Trauzer
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2 comments

Samsung's bottled it!

We challenged ourselves to make a VCam in a day and this is what we came up with.... more

Hannah_LDN
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Taking back the tap-one city at a time

Grand Rapids, Michigan is the latest U.S. city to join the effort to “Take Back... more

JanforGore
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Shouldn't water be cleaned for free?

Shouldn't water be clean and safe for free? Isn'it our right? Why do we... more

lookatmypix
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London's new drinking fountains a challenge to bottled water industry

London may soon follow in the footsteps of Bundanoon, the Australian town that last week banned bottled water and set up drinking fountains for thirsty locals.

The capital's first water stations will be set up this month in a move that could have serious repercussions for the £1.5bn-a-year bottled water industry, with companies finding it increasingly difficult to justify their carbon footprint as the quality of tap water improves.

Thames Water, Britain's largest privatised water company, with 13.6 million customers, has had talks with the Greater London Authority and Transport for London to install water machines in the capital. In the first trial, Hydrachills will be installed at Hammersmith bus station and at the Tower Bridge museum. The machines can fill bottles of up to 500ml with chilled water for a 20p charge. All proceeds will be donated to Waste Watch, a charity working to change the way people use natural resources.

Should London's water stations prove a hit with the 400,000 visitors who annually pass through the two sites, the scheme will be extended to underground, bus and railway stations across London and the south-east before the 2012 Olympics.

The move follows the installation last week of Hyde Park's first drinking fountain in 30 years. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was criticised for reneging on promises to install water fountains in the capital's parks, with Hyde Park his solitary success.

In his draft water strategy for London, Johnson says British tap water is "among the best in the world", but that misconceptions over its perceived healthiness encouraged people to buy bottled water. Tap water is a thousand times cheaper than bottled, which is more expensive per litre than petrol, he says. But Thames Water has been left to take up the mayor's pledge of more drinking stations, in a move that has upset bottled-water firms, which are fast losing the PR battle.

Activists say bottling water causes unnecessary use of plastics and fuel for transport and requires 2,000 times the energy required to produce tap water.

Hildon, regarded by many as the most exclusive bottled water, last week launched its second aggressive advertising campaign. In magazine adverts, fitness instructor Jonathan Goodair claimed tap water was only good enough to shower in and for "washing my kit". He claimed it left an "unpleasant taste".

In the summer, the company took out a 20-page trade magazine advertisement attacking tap water. Under the headline "Is it safe?" it said: "Cancer drugs found in tap water", adding : "Is there anything else they are not telling us?"

Water companies ignored the attacks, preferring to concentrate on promoting their own benefits. The Drinking Water Inspectorate's latest water quality report said Thames Water's tap water was 99.99% compliant with national and European standards – its best-ever performance. Average compliance across the industry remained at 99.96%.London may soon follow in the footsteps of Bundanoon, the Australian town that last... more

JanforGore
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Ban on bottled water finally begins

Bundanoon, a little town in Australia, has bucked the bottle for good.

northrunnnercano6
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Aussie town bans bottled water

A small, backwater Australian town has banned commercially-bottled water from going on... more

richjm
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Fiji Water. Prescous resource being stripped for profit

Fiji Water: So cool, so fresh, so bad for the environment?
Sarah GilbertSarah Gilbert RSS Feed
Aug 24th 2009 at 2:00PM
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Filed under: Economy
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The story of Fiji Water, as detailed in a startling and detailed investigative piece in Mother Jones magazine this month, seems familiar. Leafing through the story, I found myself trying to remember where I'd read this tale before; like an old melody at the back of my brain, it hovered, just beyond memory.

Suddenly it came to me: it's Dole, it's West Indies Sugar Corporation, it's the old, old story. A company located in a lush, tropical location with a totalitarian government that welcomes foreign interests with deep pockets. It doesn't tax them, gives them access to the country's most precious natural resources, and stands by with heavy artillery in hand, protecting them while they strip the country.

Meanwhile, the country's citizens struggle with terrible poverty, hunger and squalid conditions. The only part of the story that Fiji Water has not yet repeated is the inevitable depletion of the resource -- in this case, a 17-mile-long aquifer to which Fiji Water has "near-exclusive access" -- and the subsequent abandonment of the country.

These agricultural water subsidies must be viewed in context: the stress from travelling to pollinate the almond "monoculture" crops like the ones the Resnicks grow, along with the pesticides they sell, are considered to be some of the major reasons that bees are succumbing to colony collapse disorder. And the Resnicks control an enormous amount of California water infrastructure that was built by public funds. They have a 48 percent interest in the Kern Water Bank, which was meant to collect water from aqueducts and the Kern River and to redistribute this water in times of drought.

The Resnicks and their Paramount Farms and Paramount Citrus could use the water to irrigate their fields (which are already subsidized by the government), or they could sell it to municipalities. According to critics, the Resnicks are "trying to 'game' the water market the way Enron gamed the energy market."

So the Resnicks are not known for their even-handedness with politicians or water, and their practices in the U.S. are not the greenest of all possible greens. In fact, they could share responsibility for many of our environmental woes. They could have a hand in California's future water shortages, during which they could profit gloriously. All the while, they are loudly and proudly marketing Fiji Water as the most environmentally friendly bottled water company in the world.Fiji Water: So cool, so fresh, so bad for the environment? Sarah GilbertSarah Gilbert... more

Olfard101
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6 months ago
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Do You Know What's In Your Bottled Water?

Bottled water is one the fastest growing beverage industries in the world. In the U.S.... more

fitnessgal
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6 months ago
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12 comments

So you don't want to pay taxes?

What? So you don't want to pay taxes? Are you kidding? Paying taxes is... more

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Tide shifts against Nestle as company reports decline in bottled water sales

This week, mounting consumer backlash against Nestle became especially apparent when the mega-conglomerate reported that their sales had dipped by 2.4 percent to 5.07 billion Swiss francs ($4.69 billion) from 5.21 billion francs a year earlier. The company’s bottled water division, which packages and sells water under several brands including Arrowhead, Calistoga, Deer Park, Poland Spring, and Perrier, among others, recorded a 3.7 percent decline in volume.

“Around the world, but especially in the United States, consumers are recognizing that bottled water is an unnecessary burden on their wallets, the environment, and the communities from which it is taken and sold at thousands of times its actual value. Nestle in particular, has gained notoriety over the past several years for profiting on a natural resource while dumping the costs of its corporate imperialism onto society in the form of pollution, over-consumption of oil, and unfair labor practices, to name just a few offenses.

“Communities too, are pushing back against Nestle. Just last month, citizens in Michigan prevailed when a court there turned down the corporation’s request to pump more water from an already depleting spring in Mecosta County. Similar struggles have played out in California, Maine, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Colorado as part of a growing trend to reclaim public water resources from private control.

“While news of Nestle’s loss is certainly the gain of consumers and communities, the fight is far from other. Food & Water Watch will continue to support the work of those working to keep Nestle out of their communities, while applauding those consumers who, in rejecting bottled water, are helping to make it obsolete.”

Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer organization based in Washington, D.C., works to ensure clean water and safe food in the United States and around the world. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink. For more information, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.
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Moral of this story: we as consumers can speak with our dollars. Glad to know Nestle is getting the message loud and clear.This week, mounting consumer backlash against Nestle became especially apparent when... more

JanforGore
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Guzzling Tap (vs. Plastic) H20 May Be More Eco-Friendly, But Our Options Are Expanding!

Water isn't just an accessory...it's a necessity. As our society continues... more

sfinfgeld2
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Bottled Water Sucks

I knew bottled water was a social ill but I didn't know how damaging it was until... more

JanforGore
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26 comments

Water Bottle Refilling Network TapIt Launches In NYC

TapIt is a water bottle refilling network intended to give city dwellers information... more

theauthor
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Six indictments against bottled water

EDIT: IGNORE THAT VIDEO UP THERE -- I HAVE NO IDEA HOW OR WHY IT GOT THERE ?! THE... more

twohawks
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No More Bottled Water for Me

Replaced our #bottledwater service, no plastic, toxics, costs less & tastes great... more

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25 Things You Might Not Know about Water

1. The world is currently in a water crisis. One out of six people worldwide... more

northrunnnercano6
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Aussie Town Bans Bottled Water

A town in rural New South Wales has become the first community in Australia, and... more

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TAGS

tagged w/ Bottled Water

The Latest in the Bottled Water Mania: Water From Under North Korea's Demilitarized Zone | | AlterNe

Millions of Taxpayer Dollars Flow to Bottled Water

South Korea markets demilitarized zone bottled water

Samsung's bottled it!

Taking back the tap-one city at a time

Shouldn't water be cleaned for free?

London's new drinking fountains a challenge to bottled water industry

Ban on bottled water finally begins

Aussie town bans bottled water

Fiji Water. Prescous resource being stripped for profit

Do You Know What's In Your Bottled Water?

So you don't want to pay taxes?

Tide shifts against Nestle as company reports decline in bottled water sales

Guzzling Tap (vs. Plastic) H20 May Be More Eco-Friendly, But Our Options Are Expanding!

Bottled Water Sucks

Water Bottle Refilling Network TapIt Launches In NYC

Six indictments against bottled water

No More Bottled Water for Me

25 Things You Might Not Know about Water

Aussie Town Bans Bottled Water

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