Taylor Made Water Systems

Mother Jones put out another article on Bottled Water, citing the distance traveled by many top bottled water brands and the associated carbon emissions created by the transportation of the bottle to San Francisco (results will vary if you live on the East Coast, but you probably know that).  For those who wonder why bottled water is picked on when we import spices, food, drinks, etc. from all over the world, the main point is that this is water.  And water is water.  Everywhere.  Two hydrogens and one oxygen.  There may be variations in the amount of minerals in the water and the makeup of those minerals, but water is water.  We have local spring water, local purified water, local artesian water, local sparkling water, and any water you can think of right here in the United States.  So, there’s no need to ship an 18 ounce glass bottle over 6,000 miles to quench our thirst.  It’s all right here – if you have to go bottled, at least go local bottled.

Or, you can purify your own at home (shameless plug). 

How Far Did Voss and San Pellegrino Travel to My Whole Foods?

We charted the miles per bottle for nine top water brands.

— By Jen Phillips

September/October 2009 Issue

After its articles on Fiji Water garnered so much attention, Mother Jones followed up with a list of other missteps by bottled water companies.  From Coca-Cola’s drying up a village in India to IBWA’s fake Twitter “Water Babe,” desperate times are creating desperate measures. 

From Arrowhead to Volvic, Fiji’s not the only bottled water with a PR challenge.

— By Jen Phillips

September/October 2009 Issue

Sam’s Choice (Wal-Mart)

WET REGRET Water comes from the Las Vegas municipal supply. A test by the Environmental Working Group found it had 200% of the allowable trihalomethane, a carcinogen, and included several chemicals known to cause DNA damage.

Dasani (Coca-Cola)

WET REGRET Coca-Cola’s bottling plant near the village of Plachimada in Kerala, India, began pumping groundwater in 2000. When wells dried up and villagers couldn’t irrigate their fields, Coke offered a goodwill gesture: heavy-metal-laced sludge from the plant to use as fertilizer. After company ignored years of protests—and two government orders to install wastewater treatment and provide drinking water to villagers—the state ordered Coke plant to close in 2004. (Coke won the right to reopen the next year.)

Arrowhead (Nestlé)

WET REGRET Nestlé is seeking a permit to pipe 65 million gallons a year from a spring in rural Colorado. When critics raised concerns about the effect of climate change on local water supplies, Nestlé said it was "illogical" to base decisions on changes "many years in the future."

Volvic (Danone)

WET REGRET Last fall, Japan recalled 570,000 bottles of the French water after finding the toxic paint chemicals xylene and naphthalene in the bottles.

Deer Park (Nestlé)

WET REGRET In the middle of a drought, convinced officials to let it pump water from Florida’s Madison Blue Spring State Park for 14 years for no fee except a $230 permit (more than offset by nearly $1.7 million in tax subsidies).

Ice Mountain (Nestlé)

WET REGRET Pays nothing (other than small lease and $85 yearly well fee) to pump from a Mecosta County, Michigan, spring. Citizens sued, saying the plant would damage nearby waterways, and prevailed. But Nestlé appealed and this past July won the right to continue pumping up to 200 gal./minute.

International Bottled Water Association

WET REGRET Created @Bottled H20Babe on Twitter: "A lover of bottled water, a convenient, refreshing beverage that shouldn’t be restricted by governments or false claims."