Environmentalist efforts, a sagging economy and major cities outlawing the sales of bottle water, have contributed to a drop in sales.
In our article; Bottled Water – A 4,000 Percent Markup Via Coke And Pepsi, we wrote that:
- Bottled water cost’s up to 4,000 times more than tap water
- Bottled water is essentially tap water
- Bottled water does not fall under FDA guidelines, and is often has more mercury and other pollutants in it than public utility water.
- 80% of water bottles end up in landfills, streams and the environment.
- It takes 5 bottles of water to create the plastic for 1 water bottle.
- Pepsi, Coca-Cola (owners of Dasani and Aquafina) and Nestle have all been accused of over pumping streams, taking water from farmers, and in some cases, capping public wells in third world countries, claiming ownership of aquifers and making it illegal for people to collect rainwater. (forcing villagers to go to the river and drink polluted water)
The popularity of bottled water soared in the 1990s and the early 2000s, but that is changing, according to figures from market research company TNS. Last year the on-going year-on-year increase in sales was halted and sales actually fell by 9%.
The United States is one of the few countries in the word that has clean, publicly available drinking water at a low cost. There is no reason for us to be buying a product that is not only almost free, but pollutes our environment.
You’ve heard the old saying “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” I’d like to say, “buy a bottle of water and you quench your thirst for a day. Buy a reusable water bottle and you quench your thirst for a lifetime.”
Keep up the good fight, and alter the eco!
Source: The Guardian
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
This is fabulous! Thanks for the info.
You are very welcome Robin. We have to celebrate every victory!
not all of the US has drinkable tap water..
Your right Jenn. There are places here in Virginia, just a two hour drive from Washington DC, that do not have clean drinking water.
I was making a generalization. Perhaps I should not. The US (In General) is one of the few countries with publicly available, clean drinking water.
Thanks for your comment!
Five bottles of water to create one water bottle!?!?! That’s insane!
Your right Jeremiah,
It’s all about the energy that goes into the creation (cradle) of a product. In this case, plastic. On the end side, (grave) I’d like to know how much energy it takes to recycle one plastic bottle, but I haven’t been able to tap that information yet.
Thanks for your comment!
Firstly I totally agree with the article and think it’s great what your promoting. Bottled water was pointless fashion trend that I will be glad to see end.
However I didn’t understand the five bottles of water to one comment. It’s a closed system the water can’t be used up. I presume the water isn’t just lost into waste as clean water as then you wouldn’t count it as used.
So I presume you mean five bottles are contaminated for everyone one bottle produced. That seem insane as some of the bigger factories would have poisonous streams flowing out of them. That seem unlikely to be tolerated at least in some of the european sources.
Am I missing something here?
THought you’d enjoy this article http://tinyurl.com/ot5u5w detailing how Flagstaff, AZ, just said no to selling millions of gallons of water to Nestle. They set aside economic development for rational eco sustainability. Well done, Flag!
Absolutely Park! I wish Michigan would do the same thing! They are letting Nestle turn creeks on farmers lands (which they use for irrigation and farming) into mud flats. Nestle is pumping 20,000 gallons a minute! out of one aquifer!
Adam,
Great articles. I’ve read a few of yours just now. Where do you get your statistics? They are good stats and I might like to point people to your article or to the original source if possible.
I’m sorry to read about how the rivers near where you live are so heavily polluted with water bottles. I grew up next to Onondaga Lake in Syracuse and it was heartbreaking to not be able to swim in the lake because it was so heavily polluted.
Thanks!
Patricia
Patricia,
Thanks for the comment (and the twitter message) Most of the things I pointed out in the article are just facts that I’ve picked up during my research over the years.
Your right, it’s a travesty that we have allowed our environment to become so polluted. We strongly believe that clean air, soil and water are basic human rights, and that we all need to fight for those rights. The day we stop fighting for our families, is the day we quite caring about them.
Thanks again for stopping by and commenting.
Awesome news that the word is getting out a/b the polluting, rip-off that bottled water is. Corps will kill us if we let them!
The water where i live taste literally like dirt, and seeing as i need water to live, i think im going to stick with bottled water.
this is a great article, i’m going to put a link up on our communities website http://protectwellswater.com/
right now we are fighting nestle they want to take our water, claiming that we will benefit with jobs yet all the water is trucked 2 states over to be bottled.
Your articles are very informative. As an author writing, blogging and tweeting about water issues, I applaud anyone taking the time and effort to inform the general public about water issues. Thanks.
Mr. Young,
Thank you very much. Your compliment is well appreciated. I checked out your site http://www.hcourtyoung.com/ and was interested in seeing that you write about terrorism, water and energy.
I’m currently working on a piece you may be familiar with. It’s the latest report by CNA entitles “Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security.”
I’d love to hear your comments on it, and the article should be out in a week or so.
Thank you for stopping by, and for your generous compliment.
I’ve long suggested that the jobs dangled in front of rural communities by predatory companies like Nestle are subject to exactly this kind of market downturn.
Nestle and its corporate buddies want us to believe the downturn in their fortunes is due entirely to economic factors, but the fall from double-digit market growth to this decline began long before homes started foreclosing.
TC
I’ve noticed the price of it has been dropping. If enough of us stop buying it, will they give it away?
I will give up my bottled spring water when the city stops putting toxic fluoride into my tap water. Fluoride is a cumulative poison that causes terrible health damage over a period of time. As for the pileup of plastic bottles, I agree that’s a problem, but look who is responsible: the same corporate interests that have forced the dumping of their fluorosilicic acid waste product into our drinking water under the pretext that it benefits teeth. Back when I was a kid, soda and beer were bottled in a bio-friendly, perfectly recyclable material. It’s called glass. You paid a reasonable deposit, and when you returned the bottle you got your deposit back. We could do something like that today, but using the more expensive material would cut into corporate profits and we can’t have that, can we? So I’ll keep on drinking spring water because I need my health for the fight against water fluoridation. Folks, wake up and smell the coffee. Until we understand exactly who’s screwing us, and how, we can’t do anything about it.
It’s true, bottled water is a thing of the past. I say we must start moving away from bottled water. I switched to a bottle-less water cooler in my office. If you want to do the same, visit
http://www.bluereserve.com
It saved me money and I went green!