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CO: Water good. Bottles not good for the environment. Bottles + fancy water = premium prices. What happens if bottles are misleadingly labeled?
- How many water bottles do you use in a week?
- Do you know where the water comes from?
Contrasting approaches to labeling of bottled waters. Reported by Vinnee Tong, AP July 27, 2007. "New Aquafina labels: It's tap water"
| PepsiCO |
Coca Cola
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Aquafina is the single biggest bottled water brand, and its bottles are
now labeled “P.W.S.” The new labels will spell out “public water
source.”
“If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public
sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do,” PepsiCo spokeswoman
Michelle Naughton said Friday.
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Dasani's Web site says that Dasani comes from local water supplies and is then filtered.
“We don't believe that consumers are confused about the source of
Dasani water,” Coca-Cola spokeswoman Diana Garza Ciarlante said. “The
label clearly states that it is purified water.”
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BOTTLED WATER: Pouring Resources Down the Drain
Emily Arnold and Janet Larsen - February 2, 2006 Earth Policy Institute
The
global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41
billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters
consumed five years earlier. Even in areas where tap water is safe to
drink, demand for bottled water is increasing—producing unnecessary
garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. Although in the
industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it
can cost up to 10,000 times more. At as much as $2.50 per liter ($10
per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline.
Bottled Water Isn't Healthier Than Tap, Report Reveals
February 24, 2006
Bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, but it can be
10,000 times more expensive, says Emily Arnold, a researcher with the
Washington D.C.-based nonprofit.
"At as much as $2.50 [U.S.] per liter [$10 U.S. a gallon], bottled water costs more than gasoline," she said.
Most of this extra cost is driven by transportation and packaging.
"Nearly a quarter of all bottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers," Arnold said.
Lots of links from the Earth Policy Institute
From Earth Policy Institute
Lester R. Brown, Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006).
Lester R. Brown, “Water Scarcity Spreading,” in Lester R. Brown, Janet Larsen, and Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts, The Earth Policy Reader (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002).
Lester R. Brown, Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001).
Lester R. Brown, “Learning From China: Why the Western Economic Model Will not Work for the World,” Eco-Economy Update, 9 March 2005.
Lester R. Brown, “China Replacing the United States as World's Leading Consumer,” Eco-Economy Update, 16 February 2005.
From Other Sources
Catherine Ferrier, Bottled Water: Understanding A Social Phenomenon (Washington, D.C.: World Wildlife Fund, 2001).
Peter Gleick, The World’s Water (Washington, DC: Island Press, various years).
Brian Howard, “Despite the Hype, Bottled Water is Neither Cleaner Nor Greener than Tap Water,” E, The Environmental Magazine, 9 December 2003.
Beverage Marketing Corporation, cited in John G. Rodwan, Jr., "Bottled
Water 2004: U.S. and International Statistics and Developments," Bottled Water Reporter, April/May 2005, www.beveragemarketing.com/news3e.htm
LINKS
Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.nrdc.org
United Nations Millennium Development Goals
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
http://www.fda.gov
World Water Council
http://www.worldwatercouncil.org
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And for a conclusion - Don't worry too much about plastic bottles causing cancer
Rolf Halden, PhD, PE
Question: So it’s okay for people to drink out of plastic water bottles?
Answer:
First, people should be more concerned about the quality of the water
they are drinking rather than the container it’s coming from. Many
people do not feel comfortable drinking tap water, so they buy bottled
water instead. The truth is that city water is much more highly
regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can
legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking
water.
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