“Water promises to be to the 21 st century what oil was to the 20 th century: the precious commodity that determines the wealth of nations.” – Fortune Magazine, May 2000 Bottled water is the fastest growing segment of the North American beverage industry. In Canada, bottled water now outpaces the consumption of coffee, tea, and milk.

At the same time that areas of our world are experiencing the hardships of water scarcity and water pollution, sales of bottled water are exploding.

The Big 4 Nestlé owns: Perrier, Arrowhead, Pure Life or San Pellegrino brands PepsiCo owns: Aquafina Coca-Cola owns: Dasani Danone owns: Naya, Naya Go, Naya Aquakids Bonafont

Bottled water comes from two sources: ground sources, springs, rivers, streams and glaciers in rural or outlying areas Purified or processed water taken directly from municipal tap water

In Ontario Pepsi-Co: Aquafina – Missisauga Tap water Coca-Cola: Dasani – Brampton tap water Nestlé: Pure life – Guelph ground water

Bottled Water is Tap Water, So What? It is convenient for me! The International Bottled Water Association’s claims that bottled water is superior to tap water clash with several peer-reviewed scientific studies. Some studies have found disturbing concentrations of toxic ingredients like arsenic, mercury and synthetic organic chemical in bottled water products.

March 19th 2004, shortly after Coca-Cola launched Dasani brand in the U.K., announced it was recalling 500,000 bottles of Dasani. Why? Bromated contamination, which they discovered was a by-product of the way they had used reverse osmosis.

the longer water sits in the bottle and the more it is exposed to sunlight, the higher the levels of antimony (a carcinogen) are leached from the plastic bottles into the water.

Not to Mention, it is much more expensive Bottled water is ,000 times more expensive then tap water. A bottle of Dasani costs $1.70 with taxes. $1.70 will get you 34,000 litres of Brampton tap water. That’s around 60,000 bottles. Coca-Cola pays 5 cents per 1000 litres.

Are the processes and regulations that the bottled water industry claim make their product better than tap water really worth this kind of price markup (higher than oil) when we’ve already paid for safe tap water through our public tap water?

Consumer manipulation… deceptive marketing Just ten years ago, most people relied on their municipal system for their drinking water. Today, close to 1/5 of the population of Canada and the US drinks bottled water exclusively. The industry’s target market is year-olds in order to create a new generation of consumers weaned on bottled water. The precision targeting is on the young, the affluent and the athletic. Marketing tactics exploit people’s fear and fashion motivations to buy into being trendy, upscale or, paradoxically, safer.

Corporate control… unfair monopoly Across the US and Canada, more and more schools, universities and colleges are signing vending contracts with Pepsi or Coca-Cola. In exchange for exclusive vending rights, schools receive cash. Contracts typically include conditions on the number of products that must be sold, extensive corporate logo placement within the school, and strict confidentiality around the contract itself. Schools have found vending machine placement often impacts access to, or even the presence of, water fountains. Schools are also getting stuck with the machines’ energy costs, which can be tens of thousands of dollars each year.

Environmental Impacts

Bottled water containers labeled with images of pristine natural environments are rapidly becoming a major threat to the environment and our health. In 2002, only 35% of plastic beverage containers in Ontario were recycled. Plastic bottles are becoming the fastest growing form of municipal solid waste in the U.S. and Canada.

When manufactured, plastic water containers release highly dangerous toxic chemicals and contaminants into the air and water, and again when they are burned or buried. Over 33,000 tonnes of plastic was burned or buried in 2002 releasing toxins into the ground and atmosphere

Bottling plants: These plastic bottles are actually made up of natural gas and crude oil. Therefore carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are emitted when they are produce which contributes to global water and acid rain.

Transportation: Consider that bottled water relies on oil based transportation to get from the source to where it is consumed. The impacts of this are particularly disturbing when considering luxury labels such as Fiji water which have to be flown from Fiji to our local stores

The Purity Myth

Regulation Bottled water plants are government inspected, on average, once every three years in Canada. The City of Toronto tests its tap water every 4 hours! Arsenic, mercury and antimony have been found in bottled water samples The bottled water industry extracts millions of litres of water a day and pay virtually nothing for it.

Tap water is bottled water’s number one competitor

A Growing Movement San Francisco mayor banned bottled water from City Hall Restaurants banning sale of bottled water in favour of tap water: Oz Kafe in Ottawa Aquafina was forced to admit the water they sell is simply tap water

References Clarke, Tony. Inside the Bottle: Exposing the Bottled Water Industry. Revised and Updated Ed. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ottawa: 2007.

Contacts: Polaris Institute 180 Metcalfe St. Suite 500 Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1P5 (613)