BOTTLED WATER: BACKGROUND, HISTORY, AND ARGUMENTS
BOTTLED WATER: BACKGROUND, HISTORY, AND ARGUMENTS
Learning Goal: I will be able to understand the history of bottled
water and recognize the tension between its convenience and the
impact that can have on our state and environment
Sources: https://digital.library.txstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10877/3296/fulltext.pdf?sequence=1 and
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126833795
Quick History of Bottle Water:
•1845- Earliest modern bottled water company in
the US
The Ricker family of Maine bottled and sold
spring water- capitalizing on the spring’s
supposed medicinal properties, eventually
becoming the Poland Springs water company.
•1905- Ozarka Spring Water Company
was founded in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
•1958- International Bottled Water
Association- Bottling companies formed their
own lobbing group to promote their product
and set standards for health
•1976- The average American consumed a
gallon and a half of bottled water each year.
Around 350 million gallons of bottled water
were sold in the US (almost entirely
sparking mineral water and large bottles to
supply office water coolers)
•1977- Perrier launched a $5 million marketing campaign in the
United States for its imported water; as it took advantage of
concerns about pollution and poor-quality tap water,
•Between 1980 and 2006, data on beverage consumption
reveals that on average, each of us is actually drinking around
36 gallons/year less tap water.
Over this same period of time, our consumption of carbonated
soft drinks has grown by 17 gallons per person per year
Our consumption of bottled water has grown by 25 gallons
per person per year
Our purchases of all other beverages, including milk, juices,
beer, tea, coffee, and hard liquor have dropped by 6 gallons
per year.
•By 2008, number of bottled water per person/year in the US
had grown to about 30 gallons.
Americans now drink more bottled water than milk or beer
Nearly 9 billion gallons of bottled water were packaged and
sold in the US and 5x this amount was sold around the world,
feeding a global business of water providers, bottlers, truckers,
and retailers at a cost to consumers of over a hundred billion
dollars.
•2012- Americans spent $11.8 billion dollars on bottled water
•The next big thing in bottled water: Boxed Water is Better
Company (Grand Rapids, Michigan) uses milk carton-like boxes
as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic bottles. (24
cartons for $39.00)
Ethical Question(s):
1. Should companies be allowed to commercially sell bottled
water knowing the impact it can have on communities and their
environment?
2. Should Nestle be allowed to build a bottled water plant in
Cascade Locks, Oregon?
Proponents: (YES! to Bottled Water)
1. Convenient
Easily transported to hand out during disasters
Portable- Easy to carry with you to consume whenever
2. Source of Safe, Clean Drinking Water
Not all communities have clean drinking water (ex: Flint
Michigan)
Tap water contamination concerns- is it really pure?
Due to the fact that the water is usually bottled at its
source, it can avoid the possible contamination that
could result in city treatment processes (IBWA, 2006)
One of Brita's advertising campaigns claimed that a
Brita filter "turns tap water into drinking water."
3. Jobs
Water is a natural resource; just timber, oil, etc.; states
should be able to sell it.
Opponents: (NO! to
Bottled Water)
1. Pollution
Plastic in OceanGreat Pacific
Garbage Patch
About 80% of the
debris in the Great
Pacific Garbage
Patch comes from
land-based activities
in North America and
Asia.
Great Garbage Patch
Plastic in landfills
30 million bottles thrown away every day; they will take a
thousand years to biodegrade
CO2 emissions (Carbon footprint bottled vs. tap)
Once purified, water is frequently sold far away from its
source (23.5 billion tons/year worldwide); so must be
transported, which is done entirely without pipelines, and so
relies entirely on fossil fuels.
Oil consumption
Millions of tons of plastic bottles are produced every year,
using 1.5 million barrels of oil for the US alone.
2. Right to Clean Water (Companies can’t buy it all up)
Bottled water is expensive; Tap water is clean and
affordable
Citizens in the United States have access to clean water,
courtesy of extensive public works programs, but if that
water was bottled the cost would be roughly $16,000,
compared to the $60 charge for municipal water per
month.
Many brands, particularly the largest brands like Dasani
and Aquafina are simply filtered tap water.
Equal Access (cultures believe that it is unethical to put a price
tag on a resource everyone should have access to)
3. Water is a Valuable and
Limited Resource
Allowing large corporations
to package water and take it
out of the community will:
Make the effects of a
drought more heavily felt
(Nestle and San Bernardino
National Forest)
Will decrease the amount
of water available for
farms, orchards, and
fisheries
HW: Think about the Ethical Questions and on the pink exit slip,
come up with 5 questions that you have/what information you
would need to know in order to answer the ethical questions.