Bottled Water // Current TV

Study: "Beverage Advertising Pouring American's Brains...Down The Drain." | Douglas Burson/MediaWeaver

good info on the effect advertising is having on what you drink

Douglas_Burson
added this
7 months ago
|
1 comment

Crowd-Sourced Drinking Fountain App Coming to Android Phones

A new project between Google and the Pacific Institute will help you find public... more

Radical_Centrist
added this
10 months ago
|
0 comments

Radioactive Water-How to decontaminate? « Ramanan50's Blog

Some suggestions from reputed sources.Some one might translate int o Japanese..... more

ramanan50
added this
11 months ago
|
0 comments

Understanding New York's Water Supply

Understanding New York's Water Supply - a conversation with Will Schwartz of... more

olugittensreporting
added this
1 year ago
|
2 comments

Congresswoman Pingree Replaces Bottled Water in Her Washington DC Office

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree's office has just switched from a bottled water... more

bluereserve
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Hell NO to bottled H2o - Water bottles waste so much & destroy...

What kills more than war? Dirty water. What makes up the bulk of the Pacific garbage... more

ForgetTheBox
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Bottled Water Front Group Makes Cheesy, Faux Grassroots Video

One particularly enjoyable environmental front group to monitor is Bottled Water... more

atomiclegion
added this
1 year ago
|
7 comments

United Kingdom Talk Thursday 3rd June 2010

Thursday's edition of my twice a week talk show.Watch show here on CURRENT TV on... more

ChrisReardon
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

The war on tap water: Bottled and Sold by Peter Gleick

All of a sudden public water fountains have vanished and bottled water is everywhere: in every convenience store, beverage cooler, and vending machine. In student backpacks, airplane beverage carts, and all of my hotel rooms. At every conference and meeting I go to. On restaurant menus and school lunch counters. In early 2007, as I waited for a meeting in Silicon Valley, I watched a steady stream of young employees pass by on their way to or from buildings on the Google campus. Nearly all were carrying two items: a laptop and a throw-away plastic bottle of water. When I entered the lobby and checked in at reception, I was told to help myself to something to drink from an open cooler containing fruit juices and rows of commercial bottled water. As I walked to my meeting, I passed cases of bottled water being unloaded near the cafeteria.

Water fountains used to be everywhere, but they have slowly disappeared as public water is increasingly pushed out in favor of private control and profit. Water fountains have become an anachronism, or even a liability, a symbol of the days when homes didn’t have taps and bottled water wasn’t available from every convenience store and corner concession stand. In our health-conscious society, we’re afraid that public fountains, and our tap water in general, are sources of contamination and contagion. It used to be the exact opposite—in the 1800s, when our cities lacked widespread access to safe water, there were major movements to build free public water fountains throughout America and Europe.

“Water fountains used to be everywhere, but they have slowly disappeared as public water is increasingly pushed out in favor of private control and profit”In London in the mid-1800s, water was beginning to be piped directly into the homes of the city’s wealthier inhabitants. The poor, however, relied on private water vendors and neighborhood wells that were often broken or tainted by contamination and disease, like the famous Broad Street pump that spread cholera throughout its neighborhood. At the time of London’s Great Exhibition in 1851, conceived to showcase the triumphs of British technology, science, and innovation, Punch Magazine wrote: “Whoever can produce in London a glass of water fit to drink will contribute the best and most universally useful article in the whole exhibition.”4 Just three years after the Exhibition, thousands of Londoners would die in the third massive cholera outbreak to hit the city since 1800.

By the middle of the twentieth century, spectacular efforts to improve water-quality treatment and major investments in modern drinking-water systems had almost completely eliminated the risks of unsafe water. Those of us who have the good fortune to live in the industrialized world now take safe drinking water entirely for granted. We turn on a faucet and out comes safe, often free fresh water. Notwithstanding the UCF stadium fiasco, we’re rarely more than a few feet from potable water no matter where we are. But those efforts and investments are in danger of being wasted, and the public benefit of safe tap water lost, in favor of private gain in the form of little plastic water bottles.

The growth of the bottled water industry is a story about 21st century controversies and contradictions: poverty versus glitterati; perception versus reality; private gain versus public loss. Today people visit luxury water “bars” stocked with bottles of water shipped in from every corner of the world. Water “sommeliers” at fancy restaurants push premium bottled water to satisfy demand and boost profits. Airport travelers have no choice but to buy bottled water at exorbitant prices because their own personal water is considered a security risk. Celebrities tout their current favorite brands of bottled water to fans. People with too much money and too little sense pay $50 or more for plain water in a fancy glass bottle covered in fake gems, or for “premium” water supposedly bottled in some exotic place or treated with some magical process.

In its modern form, bottled water is a new phenomenon, growing from a niche mineral-water product with a few wealthy customers to a global commodity found almost everywhere. The recent expansion of bottled water sales has been extraordinary. In the late 1970s, around 350 million gallons of bottled water were sold in the United States—almost entirely sparkling mineral water and large bottles to supply office water coolers—or little more than a gallon and a half per person per year. As the figure below shows, between 1976 and 2008, sales of bottled water in the United States doubled, doubled again, doubled again, and then doubled again. In 2008, nearly 9 billion gallons (over 34 billion liters) of bottled water were packaged and sold in the United States and five times this amount was sold around the world, feeding a global business of water providers, bottlers, truckers, and retailers at a cost to consumers of over a hundred billion dollars

continued,All of a sudden public water fountains have vanished and bottled water is everywhere:... more

JanforGore
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

Vapur, the First Collapsible Water Bottle

What makes Vapur so special is pretty obvious. The BPA-free bottle can be folded or... more

whitespacecarpet
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

The facts about bottled water

Look at this quick overview of the true cost of bottled water. "It takes 3x the... more

lookatmypix
added this
1 year ago
|
2 comments

Vancouver Promotes Tap Water During Olympic Games

Attendees are encouraged to drink tap water during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic... more

JanforGore
added this
1 year ago
|
10 comments

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
added this
2 years ago
|
1 comment

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
added this
2 years ago
|
22 comments

South Korea markets demilitarized zone bottled water

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

Trauzer
added this
2 years ago
|
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
added this
2 years ago
|
0 comments

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
added this
2 years ago
|
1 comment

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
added this
3 years ago
|
46 comments

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
added this
2 years ago
|
1 comment

Ban on bottled water finally begins

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

northrunnnercano6
added this
2 years ago
|
0 comments

select your country

Community Spotlight

TAGS

tagged w/ Bottled Water

top videos

find current on tv

find current online

recent comments

© 2012 Current TV, LLC All Rights Reserved

the basics

follow us online

tools

stay in touch

© 2012 Current TV, LLC
All Rights Reserved