What we spend on bottled water vs. people who need safe water
There have been a lot of stories about bottled water in the past month. Bottled water companies are more frequently being criticized for everything from bottling municipal water to contributing to global warming through the production, shipment and disposal of beverage containers. So, this is the latest article I’ve read on the topic. It caught my eye because it also talks about the amount of money we spend on bottled water ($15 billion annually) when so many poor people in the world have no source of clean water.
I’m not posting this to add to the conversations about the bottled water industry, although I do agree that plastic bottles are wasteful and I’m happy filling my sports bottle daily with tap water that’s practically free. There are a million comparisons we can make about our personal indulgences – how much we spend on coffee (especially here in Seattle), how much we spend dining out, how much we spend on clothes. That doesn’t even get into military spending and other comparisons of government spending that I think about daily.
I actually find these comparisons hopeful because it’s evidence to me that we can solve this problem of water and toilets for the world’s poor. There is enough money in the world to cover the costs that cannot be borne by the people who are today walking to water holes. It’s simply up to us as individuals to make a change.
July 31st, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Here’s a few additional comments retrieved from a rapid review of the issue on the web about two years ago, before the recent news that the “spring” and “mountain fresh” water being peddled is really tap water.
- industry growing at enormous rate
- demand for water means aquifers are being lowered and/or depleted
- demand means private companies are managing to privatize water
supplies in US and overseas, meaning that this absolutely critical
resource is being handed over to companies beholden to wall street
and to profit and there is great potential that the poor will be unable to
afford water in the future
- bottled water’s ad campaign undermines the purity, flavor, and
appearance of muni water supplies and undermines the tax base and
the political will to maintain pure, tasty, good looking muni water
distribution systems
- the bottled water industry is regulated by FDA and there’s minimal
administration of the FDA oversight whereas EPA regulates municipal
systems that are tested regularly
- the quality of bottled water is actually so unregulated that it is notorious
for its poor quality
- the bottles used for bottled water if reused are reportedly emitting
carcinogenic gases.
July 31st, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Hi John. This is a great summary of the major bottled water issues. Do you know the Pacific Institute? They issued a good report a few years ago called “The New Economy of Water.” Here’s a link if you are interested:
http://www.pacinst.org/reports/new_economy_of_water/
Also, there was a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor. It’s not the best article I have read on this topic, but on the last page there’s a pretty frightening statement:
“Water-sector analyst Joseph DiLillo at the Shemano Group in Los Angeles likes California water utilities because they’re some of the few in the country that actually own the water they sell.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0625/p14s01-wmgn.html?page=1