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The Riddle of Bottled Water

November 09, 2007 3:35 PM

The website for Equa, a new brand of bottled water, looks as fresh and pure as the wilderness it describes.

"Deep below the world’s largest remaining expanse of undisturbed tropical rainforest, lies an aquifer formed billions of years ago and made of solid rose quartz," it says.  "Flowing up from this ancient reservoir is the purest spring water ever discovered on the planet."

Click on, and the site gets more businesslike: "Bottled water grew a full 25% compared to last year, reaching $3.2 billion in sales, with no indication that this trend will slow.  The success story for bottled water  continues as the category has reached 27 gallons per capita consumption." 

The water, in this case, is coming from an aquifer in the the Amazon basin--one of those places almost sacred to environmental advocates.  Business Week ran a piece last month about the marketing and the allure of bottled water from such an exotic place--and the flood of criticism the industry has faced of late: "Once regarded as a benign alternative to tap, bottled water is now portrayed as a sinful and ecologically unsound indulgence at a time when 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water."  Click HERE for the article.

Apres ca, le deluge.  In Chicago, strapped for cash, the finance committee of the city council this week  passed, among other tax hikes, a five-cent tax on bottled water, reduced from ten cents.  And the state of Illinois is banning its agencies from using state funds to buy bottled water, effective Nov. 16.

Now, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which currently has an exhibit on water and life, has posted some "fast facts" titled, "Bottled Water Everywhere, but is it Good to Drink?"

Among their points:

"--Bottled water costs as much as $10 per gallon compared to less than a penny per gallon for tap water.

"--Worldwide, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used each year to make water bottles, but in the U.S., less than 20 percent of these bottles are recycled.

"--The total estimated energy needed to make, transport, and dispose of one bottle of water is equivalent to filling the same bottle one-quarter full of oil.

"--An estimated 40 percent of bottled water sold in the U.S. is just filtered tap water."

The International Bottled Water Association says, "Bottled water is a safe, healthy, convenient, food product that consumers use because of its refreshing taste and because it is a good way for them to stay hydrated.  Any efforts or actions that discourage consumer use of this beneficial product are not in the public interest."  Full text HERE.

This week it said Chicago's proposed tax "is an onerous and discriminatory tax that will be paid for by  consumers."

One point they've made to me in the past: they don't see bottled water as a replacement for tap.  They make the argument that water is a healthy alternative to sugary soft drinks, for which some of the environmental issues are very similar.

So.  Thirsty?  What do you prefer to drink?

November 9, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (21)

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Posted by: Susie | Dec 2, 2007 3:00:16 PM

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