Chapter 15: Bottled Water
Student notes
Chapter 15 explores the rise of the bottled water industry over the last few decades in terms of its
causes and consequences. The risk perception and political economy approaches are used to explain
how bottled water use and its environmental consequences vary by location and level of affluence.
A Short History of Bottled Water
1. Water has been bottled for storage for thousands of years, but marketing and sale of bottled
water is a relatively recent phenomena.
2. Most water has been seen around the world as a free common property resource. Initially,
bottled water was a commodity only available to the wealthy. In the 1990s, consumption of
bottled water rapidly began to increase around the world.
The current global state of the bottled water market
1. Bottled water includes:
a. spring water and artesian spring water from underground water resources
b. mineral water that occurs naturally
c. purified water, usually filtered municipal tap water
d. fortified products that have included additional nutrient additives
2. Use and sales of bottled water have increased dramatically around the world.
Environmental impacts of bottled water
1. Despite the images of clean, environmentally friendly products, a life cycle analysis of a bottle
of water shows that the industry has a number of negative impacts on the environment.
a. petroleum is used for the bottles, the bottling process, and transportation
b. few bottles are recycled, most end up in landfills or are not discarded properly
The puzzle of bottled water
1. In industrialized countries, bottled water consumption is associated with health and wealth.
2. In developing countries, bottled water is used to replace supplies that are becoming scarce,
polluted, or privatized.
3. Water has become increasingly expensive and privatized, despite its historically communal
nature.
Population: Bottling for Scarcity?
1. There is plenty of water on Earth, but it is not evenly distributed. Often the little freshwater that
is available is polluted.
2. There are also differences in how water is used. Industrialized countries use a higher percentage
of available water per capita than less developed countries.
3. Water consumption also depends on the existence of certain activities in a location, such as
agriculture, industry, and domestic use. Much water consumption can be reduced by improving
technology to make delivery and use more efficient, such as by fixing leaks.
Who drinks bottled water?
1. The IPAT equation helps to explain why population pressure is not the only factor that drives
bottled water consumption.
2. Reasons for bottled water consumption vary from place to place, but can be characterized in
terms of three types of scarcity:
a. Hydrological scarcity, or lack of water for hydrological or climatological reasons (United
Arab Emirates). Desalinization may be an alternative for affluent coastal regions to
convert sea water to fresh water.
b. Techno-economic scarcity, or lack of water from lack of infrastructure or treatment due
to underdevelopment (Mexico).
c. Perpetual scarcity, where water is perceived to be scarce or potentially hazardous even
where there is widespread availability of potable water (Italy).
Risk: Health and Safety in a Bottle?
In affluent regions, bottled water consumption is often associated with perceptual scarcity. A risk
assessment could determine whether bottled water is indeed safer than tap water, or if it is a matter of
risk perception. Risk communication might be an option if municipal water utilities wish to convey
information about the safety of tap water.
Risk assessment: is bottled water “healthy” or “less risky”?
1. Since tap water varies in quality, it is hard to say.
2. Bottled water as a replacement for soft drinks is a healthier trend.
3. Since most bottled is repackaged tap water, there is no real difference in safety.
4. In the U.S., municipal water is more regulated than bottled water in terms of safety standards
and is therefore theoretically safer. However, some bottled water agencies voluntarily adopt
public water safety standards.
Risk perception and the limits of risk communication in water quality
People tend to base assessment of water quality on taste, but many cannot tell the difference between
municipal and bottled water. Even if a side-by-side taste test convinces people that their municipal
water is not as unsafe or unpleasant-tasting as they thought, they may still continue to purchase bottled
water.
Political Economy: Manufacturing Demand on an Enclosed Commons
Historically, water has been a common resource managed by municipal and national governments to
ensure that people receive sufficient water service.
The rise of the water commodity
1. The rise of the bottled water industry was simultaneous with increasing privatization of
municipal water supplies.
2. Under privatization, water becomes a commodity, or a thing to be sold for profit.
Bottled accumulation: Selling back nature
1. Water is often appropriated from natural or public sources, then sold back to the community at
a marked up price. This is an example of primitive accumulation.
2. Appropriation of water resources is common in less developed countries.
Bottled overproduction: Producing demand
There are too many drink options because of overproduction, so companies must effectively create
demand in order to sell their products. Demand is created through marketing and packaging and is
targeted at affluent groups of people so that they will buy something that they could get for (almost)
free.