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Jun 22, 2010

Bottled Water – It’s Time to Just Say No

Recently, author Peter Gleick sat down with Fresh Air host Terry Gross to discuss his new book Bottled and Sold, in which he answers a lot of questions about bottled water: Where does it come from? Who regulates it? And what happens to all of those plastic bottles? Gleick is a water expert who was named a MacArthur fellow in 2003, so he clearly knows his stuff. And once you hear what he has to say, it will make it hard to purchase another bottle unless you are literally dying of thirst. More...

Mar 24, 2010

The story of bottled water (video)

The Story of Bottled Water is co-produced with ﬁve leading sustainability advocacy organizations, including Corporate Accountability International, Environmental Working Group, Food & Water Watch, Polaris Institute and Paciﬁc Institute. Fortunately, more people are becoming aware about how ridiculous it is to buy plastic bottled water. A Harris Poll found that 29% of the people surveyed switched back to the tap this year. That's a great sign. But it doesn't stop at just the average consumer. It also has to happen in restaurants ... More...

Mar 15, 2010

Cities Promote Tap Water Because It's Good Policy

One thing about the MN GOP campaign operatives take on Minneapolis' tap water promotion PR campaign that stands out to me is that they're pretending that Minneapolis is somehow unique in their efforts to promote tap water. That's an absurd assumption since Minneapolis' tap water situation is not all that unique. Cities around the world are all dealing with: 1. Increased bottled water usage, which leads to . . . 2. Increased stress on the waste stream, which leads to . . . 3. An increased tax burden . . . 4. In a time when budgets are being squeezed. So it makes sense to promote the public utility for a variety of reasons. There is nothing particularly unique about what Minneapolis is doing. We're among the first to move in this direction but we're far from alone. More...

Feb 8, 2010

The Bottled Water Wars

In a month or two, I have a new book coming out from Island Press called "Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water." Look for it at your local... well, wherever you buy books now. The book is a popular account of the reasons we buy bottled water, the manipulations of the private water bottlers to get us to buy it, the industry war on tap water, the history of weird claims made for bottled water, and much more. It explores the remarkable explosion in bottled water sales and the recent consumer revolt that is beginning to threaten sales. But make no mistake. The war for what you drink continues. More...

Nov 30, 2008

Bottled water is an environmental and social endangerment

"How did we get to the point where we're paying for bottled water? That must have been some weird marketing meeting over in France. Some French guy's sitting there like, 'How dumb do I think the Americans are? I bet you we could sell those idiots water.'" More...

Dec 19, 2009

Group criticizes state for spending more than $500,000 on bottled water

A Boston-based nonprofit is calling on state and local governments to pledge to stop pouring money into bottled water, saying public employees can drink just as safely from the tap. State agencies spent $527,107 last year on bottled water 5-gallon jugs for coolers says Corporate Accountability International in its report, "Getting States Off the Bottle." More...

Nov 1, 2009

The Environmental Impact Of Bottled Water

Sales levels of bottled water have been increasing by around 7 or 8 % annually for the past ten years. Between 1997 and 2005, it's estimated that global consumption of bottled water doubled. Approximately 200 billion bottles of water are consumed worldwide each year. The US market is the largest by far, accounting for 25% of total sales. There has been quite a backlash against the use of bottled water recently. The key concern for many being the environmental impact of bottled water. Polyethyleneterphthalate (PET) is the material used for most of these bottles. It is, to be fair, a material which can be recycled. The trouble is that recycling levels are estimated at less than 25%. More...

Oct 25, 2009

The Bottled Water Swindle

Bottled Water: I call it one of the greatest “con job” of the preceding 3 or 4 decades and a marketing dream…aimed at the gullible. It is also my main pet hate. One of the biggest untruth in our world is the following line: “bottled water is safer than tap water.” It is not. It is…errr…the same. More...

Oct 4, 2009

London's new drinking fountains a challenge to bottled water industry

London may soon follow in the footsteps of Bundanoon, the Australian town that last week banned bottled water and set up drinking fountains for thirsty locals. The capital's first water stations will be set up this month in a move that could have serious repercussions for the £1.5bn-a-year bottled water industry, with companies finding it increasingly difficult to justify their carbon footprint as the quality of tap water improves. More...

Oct 2, 2009

What Do You Know About Bottled Water Quality?

If you are like me and thought that from the recent reports shown on the television that the quality of bottled water is just the same as tap water then I have some news for you. There are some other interesting things that you should know. I watched the reports that were coming out awhile ago that said that bottled and tap water were basically the same. They said that you can get the same quality of water from the tap in your home. I took this a step further and asked myself, how good is tap water coming into my home? That comparison that I just saw is meaningless if the tap water was contaminated. I started looking into water quality and found that there are a number of contaminants that have been found and that the list has grown to over 2,100. Herbicides, pesticides, and drugs are what have generally been found across the U.S. If the quality of bottled water is the same as tap water then this makes me nervous. More...

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