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America’s growing thirst
for bottled water |
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"Bottled water costs 500 to 1,000 times more than tap water. Still, Americans
consumed about 20.4 billion litres of it in 2001, creating a $6.5 billion industry"
says a study done in 2001 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Bottled water is the fastest
growing beverage industry in the world, worth up to $22 billion a year, according to the
Fund.According to Beverage Marketing Corporation, the per capita consumption of bottled
water in the USA has more than doubled since 1991. Ironically, while more people are
drinking bottled water because of fear of pollution, this massive increase in consumption
has produced a huge increase in the waste produced by the industry. The Container
Recycling Institute, USA, reported that plastic bottle waste took only four years, between
1994 and 1998, to double.
Every year 1.5 million tonnes of plastic are used to bottle water. Toxic chemicals can
be released into the environment during the manufacture and disposal of the bottles.
Furthermore, a quarter of the 89 billion litres of water bottled worldwide annually are
consumed outside their country of origin. Emissions of carbon dioxide, caused by
transporting bottled water contribute to climate change.
With the help of clever marketing, the industry has entrenched the
notion deeply in consumers' minds that bottled water is supremely clean |
Some examples of interesting labels
observed by the National Resources Defence Council of American bottled water, NRDC:
Spring Water (with a picture of a lake surrounded by mountains on the label)
- was actually from an industrial parking lot next to a hazardous waste site.
Alaska™ - "Alaska Premium Glacier Drinking Water: Pure Glacier
Water From the Last Unpolluted Frontier. Bacteria Free" - apparently came from a
public water supply source. This label has since been changed after FDA intervention. |
 Tests done by
the Centre for Science and Environment show deadly pesticides in most samples of
‘safe’ bottled water.
(See Down To Earth, Feb
15, 2003) |
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| Selling packaged water at a profit to consumers who can
afford to buy it, causes more scarcity. Private companies looking to cash into the booming
bottled water market often over-exploit the already depleted groundwater aquifiers. Often
coming in conflict with local communities dependent on aquifers for irrigation and
drinking needs. Urban populations are ready markets for bottled water where supply is low
and quality of water bad. According to Corpwatch, in Chennai, more than 200 legal and 400
illegal water packaging units operate in the city and its surroundings. To produce one
litre of an aerated drink, soft drink companies can use upto 6 to 8 litres of fresh water.
Industries have privatised common groundwater resources or polluted them. This raises a
question - who has the right to own a common resource like water and profit from it? There
is still no clear laws that regulate the use of groundwater in India. Water mess. |
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