Transcript Slide 1

Bottled Water and
The Environment
“Our consumer preferences for “spring” water,
involve innocent choices made by individuals,
but their cumulative impact has the potential
to devastate springs and rivers”
-Robert Glennon
How much do YOU know about
bottled water and the industry?
(Take a true/false quiz to determine your water wisdom)
1. Nestle, famous for its chocolate products, owns the famous Perrier Group.
2. France has the strongest international presence and history in the bottled
water industry.
3. Volvic and Evian are owned by the same company.
4. Purified drinking water is actually a special tap water.
5. The retailers make at least half of the profits along the supply chain.
6. Buying shelf space at the grocery store to sell a bottled water brand is around
$50,000.
7. Europeans like more minerals in their water.
8. How bottled water is packaged (ie types of bottles) strongly determines its
success.
9. FDA standards on water are not strictly enforced.
10. An issue that confronts the bottled water industry is exploitative labor
practices.
11. Water "bars" have once existed in the United States.
12. Tap water in some cities may have more minerals than bottled water.
13. China's bottled water market is expected to grow by 150% in the next five
years. http://www.soc.duke.edu/~s142tm16/answers.htm
Bottled Water in U.S.

Americans shell out more than $10,000 "every
minute of every day" or up to 30 cents for a glass of
bottled water*

1978 Consumption = 415 Million Gallons**

2001 Consumption = 5.4 Billion Gallons**
* Consumer Reports Magazine (2000)
** Water Follies (2002)
Why Drink Bottled Water?
www.toothpastefordinner.com/102002/ drink-bottled-water.gif
Bottled Water is Big Business
REVENUES (2003)
$7.7

Billion in US
$35 Billion
Worldwide
(Beverage Marketing Corp.)
Bottled Water vs. Tap Water



Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) estimates that
bottled water is 240 times to 10,000 times more expensive than
tap water.
Spring Water = $4.50 to $7.50 per gallon
Tap Water = $0.07 to $0.20 per gallon
Who Drinks Bottled Water?

60% Of
Americans

43 Billion 16
ounce bottles
Why Do Americans Drink Bottled Water?

Americans drink bottled water primarily for aesthetic reasons:
the taste, smell, and appearance of the water.

Tap water supplies are often treated with chlorine, which can
leave an aftertaste or odor. Bottled water, on the other hand, is
usually treated by ozonation and filtration, processes that leave
no aftertaste.

Despite almost half (49%) of the respondents to an AWWA
survey saying they believe bottled and tap water to be equal in
quality -- 37% responded that bottled water is safer and
healthier to drink than tap water, as opposed to only 10% who
said the opposite.
A perception most chalk up to clever advertising by the bottled
water industry.
Who Are The Players?

700 brands are sold in the United States

Aquafina = PepsiCo

Dasani = Coca-Cola

Nestle = Perrier and 72 brands in 160 countries

Dannon = Visit one of their plants at Mt. Shasta!
Who Is Perrier?
“Perrier” = 32% of U.S Market
 Arrowhead
 Calistoga
 Poland Spring
 Ozarka
 Ice Mountain
 Deer Park
 Many, many others
Who is Dannon?
No. 2 worldwide in bottled water



Evian
Volvic
Dannon Natural Spring Water (from Mt. Shasta)
 Pure American
 Enon Springs
 Alhambra Junior Sport Drinking Water
 Sparkletts Junior Sport Drinking Water
The Bottled Water Process
About one-fourth of
bottled water is tap
water.
(U.S. Food and Drug
Administration)
(International Bottled Water Association)
Types of Bottled Water

Artesian Water/Artesian Well Water - Water from a well that taps a water-bearing
underground rock or sand formation (aquifer) in which the water level stands at some height
above the top of the aquifer.

Drinking Water - Water that is bottled sanitarily without added sweetners or chemical additives.
It must contain no calories, no sugar and very low amounts of sodium. Flavors, extracts, or
essences may be added, but they must not exceed more than 1% of the weight of the product.

Mineral Water - Water containing no less than 250 parts per million total dissolved solids. It has
constant level and relative proportions of mineral and trace elements at the point of emergence
from the source. No minerals can be added, but may contain calcium, iron, and sodium. Many
times from a geothermal well or spring.

Purified Water - Water from which all minerals and any other solids have been removed. May
also be called distilled, deionized, or reverse osmosis.

Sparkling Water - Water that after treatment and possible replacement with carbon dioxide
contains the same amount of carbon dioxide that it contained at the source.

Spring Water - Water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally
to the surface of the earth. It must be collected only at the spring or through a bore hole tapping
the underground formation.

Well Water - Water from a hole bored or drilled in the ground which taps the water of an aquifer.
http://www.soc.duke.edu/~s142tm16/glossary.htm
Premium Sources ($$)
Cool & Geothermal Springs
Periodic Spring, WY
Thermopolis Hot Springs, WY
Artesian Wells
Not as valuable as “Spring”
sources due to public
perception that springs are
more pure, despite flowing
well water is from the same
aquifer as the spring and has
an identical chemical
composition as the spring
water.
Water Follies (2002)
Bottled Water Regulations

Bottled water, unlike tap water provided by a utility,
is considered a food. The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water.

EPA is responsible for the safety of drinking water
from public water systems through SDWA.
(Joe Gelt, Arroyo, 1996; IBWA, 2003)
Contaminants Found in Bottled Water?

22% violated enforceable limits.

17% violated guidelines.

Some waters exceeded both
state limits and state guidelines,
so the total that violated one or
the other was 33%
(NRDC, 1997-1999)
Percentages indicate % of waters for
which at least one test found
containment. Number of waters tested:
103.
Is Bottled Water Safer?

In 1989 the Environmental Policy Institute concluded that bottled water
is not necessarily any safer than tap water…due to bacterial growth in
the water.

EPA's Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water, stresses that
although studies are inconclusive on the issue, bacteria in bottled
water doesn't seem to be a significant problem. (Critical thinking in
action?)

February 1990, benzene, a chemical known to cause cancer in
humans, was detected in bottles of Perrier at levels that exceeded by
four times the EPA standards for tap water. Perrier recalled more than
170 million bottles as a result of the contamination

Perrier incident prompts U.S. General Accounting Office to charge the
FDA with failing to set "adequate safety standards for chemical
contamination of bottled water."
Is Bottled Water Safer?

In 1994, the FDA passed regulations that impose the same
standards on bottled water as the EPA imposes on tap water.
An exception is lead: lead content may not exceed 5 parts per
billion in bottled water, whereas EPA limits lead in tap water to
15 parts per billion.

Bottled water may help to bypass other potential problems
brought about by the practice of public water suppliers of
adding chlorine to drinking water to remove bacteria. Although
chlorine kills bacteria effectively, it can react with organic
matter in water to form by-products such as trihalomethanes
which have been linked to bladder and rectal cancers. Chlorine
is not used as a disinfectant in bottled water.
What’s In Bottled Water?
“Drink lots of water.
Tap water is best, but if
you must drink
bottled water, do 60
extra sit-ups per day
because bottled water
contains an enzyme
that produces more
cellulite to the
abdomen.”
Brigid, The Sarcasm Diet (2003)
Bottled Water Environmental Problems
“…an immense waste of energy and plastic and resources if you
consider the number of bottles that are made and transported
and disposed of…” (NRDC)
 US Consumes Equivalent of
43 Billion 16 ounce bottles
 Japan disposes of 6 Billion
plastic bottles to Tokyo Bay in
1998
Water Follies (2002)
Bottled Water Environmental Problems

“Tap water comes from underground pipes, while the
manufacture, distribution and disposal of bottled
water requires much more energy and fuel.”*

It takes 1,851 gallons of water to refine one barrel of
crude oil.**

Twenty-four gallons are needed to make one pound
of plastic. **
*BBC (2001)
**Emily Gersema, Associated Press (2003)
Bottled Water Environmental Problems

The French company, Perrier - Vittel, bought the Buxton
mineral water bottling plant in Britain's Peak District national
park 14 years ago when it produced half a million bottles a
year.

Now production is up more than a hundred fold to 55
million. Today they bottle, ship and sell a quarter of the flow
from the Buxton source - and demand is growing.
BBC (2000)
Bottled Water Environmental Problems

The NRDC says the booming bottled water industry could be
draining aquifers and other water resources, contributing to
pollution and producing energy inefficiencies.

“It's absolutely absurd to be putting this very heavy bulky and
yet supercheap product in bottles which weigh almost as much
as the product and carting these around the world."

"It uses enormous amounts of energy and that in turn fuels
climate change and yet it's climate change which is the biggest
threat facing the world's water resources in the future. This is
just craziness.“
(Matt Phillips of Friends of the Earth)
Bottled Water Environmental Problems
In some localities, exported
water may be better left in
the watershed. Spring
sources bring in the
premium price, but also are
part of wetlands, streams,
and river ecosystems.
Water Follies (2002)
Shifting international geography
of the bottled water industry

In five years, bottled water consumption will be highest along
the Pacific Rim. China is expecting large growth.

Canada will continue to close the gap between them and
France in imports.

Mexico also looks to be a place where many plants might
decide to invest.

A decade ago, France was considered at the center of the
industry, but as of 2000 the industry seems to heading in all
directions.
http://www.soc.duke.edu/~s142tm16/conclude.htm
Conclusions

Bottled water isn't worth the price, especially considering that it
must be purchased, transported, and stored by the consumer.

Canadian water researcher Pierre Payment (Armand-Frappier
Institute - Associated Press) indicates that municipalities
should advertise the quality of their water the way bottled water
companies do, because "North American tap water is the best
you can get.“ (San Francisco is doing this)

If you must buy bottled water, look for “Purified” or an
“Artesian” source because it is just as pure, if not more pure,
as “Spring” Source.

Wells located very close to springs can be sold as “spring”
water. These wells dry up the springs. Let the springs
discharge to the wetlands, streams, and rivers.