Bottled Life (2013) - Journalist: Res Gehriger
1. Nestle has partnered with the United Nations to provide a Refugee Camp with drinking water in which country?
2. “The water crisis is perhaps the most urgent, ecological, and human threat of our time. More children die every
year in our world of water than _____________________, __________________________ ________________,
and ________ combined”
3. How many people are living at the Refugee Camp? _____________________________
a. How long have some been living there waiting for the killing in their country to stop? ________________
Interview with Ruqiya Abdi Ahmed (Somali Refugee) (Hint: She is the one that is bathing her child)
1. How many jerrycans (plastic yellow containers) of water do they get each day?
a. All of that water has to satisfy _______ people for drinking, cooking, and washing; so sometimes they
don’t have any water for _____________days
Nestle Water Plant/Pumps
1. The water must be treated because it is has a high ____________ content
2. Because of strong ___________________________, the water pumps down in the valley (at the refugee camp)
are often out of operation, and when that happens 20,000 people at the other end of the pipe are left
__________________________.
3. In the pump house Bekele Negash- UNHCR Project Officer explains that after time the pumps get older and they
have to replace them. The most recent system is running due to funding from someone other than Nestle. The new
pumps were changed out in ____________ and _____________. In ____________ Nestle supported them and
since then they have not been following up with the project.
a. About _______________________ refugees are relying on UNHCR support
b. What does Peter Brabeck- Nestle CEO and Vice Chairman- say about their support of the UNHCR water
project in his online video? ______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
c. However Nestle has not been there since when? _____________
4. Maude Barlow- Former Senior Advisor of Water United Nations- says that the water companies are in it for one
reason ____________________. And sometimes they connect up with projects (like the ones in the refugee
camps) to renew their ___________________ in the world. They don’t stick with something that isn’t
___________________. They don’t get into it for __________________________________ reasons.
5. Annual profit of Nestle annually exceeds _______________________ dollars
a. How many staff members do they have? ______________________________________
b. CEO and Chairman Brabeck has concluded that the single most important factor is that will ensure their
company continues for another 140 years is _________________.
6. Nearly 150 years ago Nestle founder first bought rights to water so that he could supply his ____________ and
________________ with fresh water.
a. With the excess water he build a _________________ for the city to pump the excess water from his
home to them.
7. Nestle sent producer to meet with him at a restaurant; will nestle give him an on camera interview?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Poland Springs Water Pumping Station
1. Nestle pumps out ________________ liters of water from this spring per day
a. How many liters fits in one tanker? ___________________________
b. How much does nestle pay the private land owner __________ for one truck full of water
2. A news report shows the residents of Fryeburg (location of Poland Springs) protest because they believe that the
companies business there is _________________________ the pond.
3. What does Nestle want to do in Fryeburg? _________________________________________________________
a. What do the local authorities do about it? ___________________________________________________
b. What does nestle do in response? _________________________________________________________
Poland, Poland Spring’s Bottling Plant (Maine)
1. Res is there for an interview, he is told by Elizabeth Swain that he can visit the factory; all she needs to do is
inform the head office.
a. What’s the outcome of his visit? __________________________________________________________
Kingfield, Maine
1. They city has a deal with Nestle that allows them to pump ______________million liters of water every year
a. Kingfield has a population of ____________people
b. How does the community members feel about the new plant being in their city? ____________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
c. Approximately how many people will be employed in the new factory? ___________________________
d. How has nestle been a “good neighbor” according to Kingsfield Resident John Goldfall (What do they
do/support). __________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
John Dill- First Selectman, Kingfield
1. What are a few things that Nestle has done make sure they are good neighbors? ___________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How much does Poland Spring pay for the water in Kingsfield? ________________________________________
a. Why can’t the home owners lease the land to Nestle? __________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
b. What can the city of Kingsfield do to make sure they get paid? __________________________________
City of Newfield
1. Three women (Ann Winn-Wentworth, Eileen Hennessy, Shelly Gobeille, and Denise L. Carpenter) do not like
Nestlé’s presence in the town.
a. What are some reasons they give for trying to stop Nestle from coming in and extracting water in the
area? ________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
b. Nestle wanted this specific water because it is so _____________ and won’t ____________ so much.
2. What are the 2 points of view according to Brabeck (Nestle) about whether water should be privatized.
a. What is the “extreme” point of view? ______________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
b. What is the other point of view? __________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
3. When Res tries to talk to the truckers in the Poland Spring truck, what happens?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Res follows the tankers to Hollis, Maine
a. For one tanker, Nestle pays $_____ or sometimes ______________.
b. Once bottled, the same water costs _____________ dollars and is sold across the counter
Nestle Headquarters- Annual Press Conference
1. John Harris of Nestle is speaking about their new brand known as Nestle ____________________.
2. This water is purified _______________water and then enriched by an artificial blend of __________________.
a. It is produced locally in _________ different countries, on ________ continents and it tastes the same
everywhere.
Lahore, Pakistan- Test Market for Nestle Pure Life Brand
1. The city’s water table has fallen; they don’t have a replenished water table for a variety of reasons; so they are
having to drill farther and farther down into the ground to access the water.
a. What does this mean for drinking water as a resource? _________________________________________
b. How old are the sewage, water and sanitation pipes there? ______________________________________
c. In many places these pipes have broken causing the drinking water and sewage to mix. What health
effects are some people experiencing because of this? _________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2. How can Lahore residents tell the water is dirty; not drinkable? ________________________________________
a. If they don’t boil it before they drink it, what happens? ________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
3. Nestlé’s Pure Life brand so successful in Lahore on the college campus
a. Who was the target market? _____________________________________________________________
b. The adds emphasized the quality of water; it was water you could _________________________
c. Additionally, it is also seen as _________________ to be carrying Pure Life water around with you. If
you are a ______________ person; a person who is _____________ conscious, you are the ones drinking.
Bhaiti Dilwan Village
1. The arrival of Nestle brought extra employment but the factory is also blamed for the biggest problem in the
village: _______________________________________
2. The old wells in the city, do not reach _________________ enough to get to the water; several around the factory
have run _________________.
3. Because of Nestle’s booming business with pure life, they have been pumping more and more water.
a. Rea asked Nestle Pakistan about the recent study on the water level and the quality of the water being
drank by village people but they did _______________________________________________.
b. Residents are tired of buying __________________. Her child cannot drink it, she is always getting sick.
c. They are told to boil the water before drinking it to kill the germs but they cannot
____________________________________________________________________________________
4. There is no Donation Request forms for citizens to fill out, but they did send a petition to the company asking for
what? ______________________________________________________________________________________
a. What did Nestle do? ____________________________________________________________________
b. What is ironic about what is going on in this city? ____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Zurich, Switzerland
1. According to the United Nations ____________________million people have no access to clean drinking water.
2. In his book, Peter Brabeck stresses the importance of water for what 2 reasons? ___________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Lagos, Nigeria
1. Population ____________________________ people
2. Vast majority of the population is dependent on ____________________________________________________
3. How much (in US $) does a ½ liter of the water cost? __________________________________
a. Is it pure water? (If not, what happens to consumers) __________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
4. Nestle Pure Life has been available in Nigeria since ______________, but only in the upper price sector; for
people who can _______________ it.
a. One bottle of Nestle Pure Life is more expensive than the daily _______________ of many Nigerian
residents.
b. One bottle of Nestle Pure Life is even more expensive than a liter of __________________ (oil)
5. Only the _____________ can afford safe drinking water; even in the middle class, some can no longer afford it.
a. This opens up more people to the ______________________ of drinking bad water
6. What is Mary Setibdji’s family daily budget? _______________________
a. How much of this money is used to buy water? ________________________
b. This money has to last a family with ________ people
Golden Dip Company, Akuro Water
1. How many bags of water does he produce a day? ________________________
2. Why bagged water; not bottles- Why do they only produce minimal amounts of water in bottles a day?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
New York City, USA
1. How much water is given away for free during the marathon? ________________________________________
a. Giving it away is a part of a marketing strategy which has been successful,, more and more people are
having Poland Springs Water delivered where _____________________________________________.
2. Every year, the US beverage industry alone uses up more than __________________ tons of plastic.
a. _____ out of _____ pet bottles in the US end up as _______________, along the road sides, or in the
_________.
Fryeburg
1. Not everyone is unhappy with Nestle in Fryeburg, why? ______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
2. John V. Johnson has spent _______ years and $________________ in legal fees to try and stop Nestle from
tapping into the water behind his home.
3. Why is Hannah Warren – Bakery Owner – so upset? _________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Wildlife Preserve – Shapleigh/Newfield, Maine
1. Nestle in this area has been ________________________________.
a. They must ________________ its test wells in the protected area.
2. The towns of Shapleigh and Newfield have declared that all water in their territories a ____________________
______________________________________________.
a. Water belongs to ___________________ and may be used only by local ________________________.
3. Shapleigh’s local board refused the citizens petition to vote.
a. How did they get around it and get to vote? _________________________________________________
b. With ______ votes to _____ water in these towns became a fundamental right and Nestle lost.