The Polaris Institute (Canada) released in 2005 an important publication titled: "In the Bottle, An Exposé of the Bottled Water Industry". "In the Bottle" is being used as a study and action guide by environmental and political groups in Canada.
One of the many interesting facts in this report is about Alaska Premium Glacier (now defunct) bottled water. According to the above report, the "glacier" water "is drawn from the municipal water system in Juneau, Alaska, specifically, pipe # 111241, which is not a glacier". Apparently the label said "Alaska Premium Glacier Drinking Water: Pure Glacier Water From the Last Unpolluted Frontier, Bacteria Free".
Bottled Water is just another example of how lack of regulation (read "private or free enterprise") can cause environmental damage, encourage use of misleading or outright false advertising and huge undeserved profits for private companies (and their lobbyists) who fight against regulation where it is needed the most. Private enterprise is not a guarantee of consumer protection, environmental protection or even efficiency. The only efficiency at play is at making huge profits by duping the public. It is inconceivable that hordes of people pay money for a basic human necessity such as water in spite of the fact that unfiltered tap water is in a lot of cases simply safer that bottled water. The Bottle Water lunacy started during the Reagan administration (with an endless repetition of the deregulation mantra). Bottle Water is a great example of a highly sophisticated propaganda apparatus that is able to convince millions of people to buy into the sham and transforming water into a fashion statement.
As another example, the Bolivian government imposed martial law (and repression that goes along with it) when the public protested the privatization (by usual suspect Bechtel) of the water supply which resulted in a huge increase in the price of water. Happily, the government finally relented to the civil disobedience and Bechtel had to flee.
A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) mentions that "Millions of us are willing to pay 240 to over 10,000 times more per gallon for bottled water than we do for tap water".
The Polaris Institute report is a great step in educating the public and community groups in this critical matter.
A great summary of all the issues can be read in this article by Larry Lack which talks in some more detail about the Polaris report.
The Bottled Water Madness
1 comment:
The magic of marketing! I'll take credit on behalf of all marketers. I love drinking from hotel room taps--you never know what you are going to get and it sure beats the $7 they'll charge you if you pop open the tempting Aquafina by your bedside.
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