The bottled water industry is worth well over $100 billion and growing over 10 percent each year. Somehow, these companies are successfully managing to sell bottled water to Americans who have access to free, clean tap water.
When did we start paying for something so basic and accessible (in American culture) as water?
The bottled water industry is completely consumer-driven. Consider this, in 2008, the U.S. drank over 9 billion gallons of bottled water (about 30 gallons per person) and tap water is 560 times less expensive than bottled water.
So how are these companies so successful? Simple. Advertising. Bottled water companies bombard the media we are exposed to every day. Sometimes, you see clearly labeled bottled water in the hands of actors in movies and shows. Other times, you see advertising that implies that their bottled water will make you healthier, therefore, happier. Or they may even go so far as to advertise that their bottles are environmentally friendly. That’s a joke. There’s nothing environmentally responsible about the single-use plastic bottle, green label or not.
The production of plastic water bottles requires 17 million barrels of oil a year, and three times the amount of water the bottle is filled with. Only about 12 percent of the 30 billion plastic water bottles Americans used in 2005 were recycled. Plastic bottles are ending up in landfills and are destroying the environment. Read one of my past articles about the environmental effects of plastic here.
Big companies push their products into our everyday lives, whether we even realize it or not. The craziest part is that around half of bottled water is derived from municipal tap water. Americans are literally paying for packaged tap water. Compared to municipal tap water, bottled water is hardly regulated. Usually those regulations include bacteria testing and filtration and disinfection requirements. While people worry about safe tap water, the truth is that over 90 percent of American municipal water is safe at the state and federal level. In a test with over 103 bottled waters, nearly 1 in 5 contained more bacteria, 2 had excessive fluoride, 2 contained excessive coliform bacteria, and at least 8 contained arsenic.
Big companies, like Nestle, target small rural communities in some of the most beautiful places in the country to set up water extraction and bottling operations. Nestle claims that these operations are good for the communities by bringing in new income and jobs. What Nestle fails to shed light on for these communities includes the amount of traffic, pollution, and the enormous amount of pristine water resource they plan to extract.
Check out the film, Bottled Life, which takes a closer look at the effects Nestle is having on communities around the country. Watch the trailer here.
Also, watch this short movie by the Story of Stuff to see how the town of Cascade Locks came together against Nestle and saved Oxbow Springs.
People need to wake up and realize that
- Nestle is exploiting small, rural communities that aren’t economically stable
- They are also destroying some of the last pure water sources in the country
- Bottled water isn’t any healthier or better than tap water
- Plastic bottles are destroying the environment
You can help by boycotting bottled water. Buy a reusable bottle, and take advantage of the clean tap water the United States is lucky enough to have access to. Don’t keep it bottled up! Speak up and say no to Nestle and other bottled water companies destroying communities and the environment!
