Tapped

• By 2030, ⅔ of the world will not have proper access to drinking water 

• Water is treated like a commodity, so there is corporate control over drinking water 

• The cost of bottled water is more than the cost of gasoline 

• Nestle = one of the largest profiteers of water

  • 3.6 billion water sales in 2008

• Only 1% of Earth’s water is drinkable 

• In US, oceans, ponds, and rivers are part of public trust but groundwater is dependent on the rules of the state — ex: Maine has absolute dominion which means whoever has the biggest pump can take the most water 

  • Nestle pulls out the water for free and sells it for profit 

• Local communities are outgunned by corporations 

• Citizens come second 

• Tragic of the Commons

• Bottled water is sold for 1900 times the cost of tap water

• “There is enough water for human need, but not for human greed.” — Mahatma Gandhi 

• The World Bank places the value of the water market at 800 billion dollars

• Climate change and droughts cause shortage in water supply, which is heightened by corporate monopolies on water 

  • Severe water restrictions on residents while corporations continue to take water 

• Governments have to choose between environmental policy or job loss

• Serious advertising of bottled water began in the 70s

• Plastic bottles became available in 1989

• Pepsi and coca cola entered the water market when soda said dipped, feeding on the public’s belief that bottled water would make people beautiful 

• Easy to get and easy to dispose 

• Markets on the “purity” of bottled water, as if tap water is “impure” 

  • Water companies are careful not to disparage on tap water because of their reliance on it 

• 40% of bottled water is just filtered tap water

  • Ex: Dasani and Aquafina 

• Bottled water is packaged in PET or PETE

  • The primary ingredient is a paraxylene, which is a clear liquid the comes from refining crude oil 

    • This is in the benzene family, which is a carcinogen 

  • 80% of PET manufactured in US ends up in Pepsi, coke, or Nestle packaging containers

  • One person in the FDA was responsible for the regulation of all plastic water bottles

• Plastic water bottle manufacturing uses 714 million gallons of oil every year, which is enough to fuel 100,000 cars 

• Out of sight, out of mind 

• People living near plastic bottle manufacturers contract illnesses from the air pollution (ex: heart and lung diseases)

• People would want to move because of the refinery, but that means that it would be more difficult to sell their house

• Tap water is highly regulated, and bottled water is virtually unregulated 

• 60-70 percent of all bottled water purchased is produced within state lines 

  • FDA does not have control over those types of water

  • Bottled water companies take their own safety tests and they are not required to show their reports to the public 

• Tap water is tested multiple times a day

• Bottled water is not necessarily safe 

  • Chemicals are particularly harmful to fetuses and children 

• 5 gallon jugs contain BPA, which is one of the most potent chemicals known to man 

  • May cause obesity, brain disorders, breast cancer, liver disease, ovarian disease, prostate cancer, low sperm count in men, diabetes 

• 80 million water bottles consumed daily by US

  • 30 million end up in landfill

• Recycling rate of US = 20 percent 

• Bottle bills = deposit returned when bottles recycled 

  • Only 6 states have expanded to approve bottled water

• Water bottle corporations do not like bottle collection agencies — they only like curbside recycling, but only half of Americans have that luxury 

• Eastern Garbage patch = twice the size of Texas

• Invest in water infrastructure and stop using bottled water 

• Reusable water bottles!

• Toronto regulations