Home
Mail
News
Sports
Finance
Weather
Games
Search Finance
Groups
Answers
Screen
Flickr
Mobile
Search Web
Sign In
More
Mail
Follow Yahoo Finance
Sat, Aug 16, 2014, 12:03 PM EDT - U.S. Markets closed
Recent
%|$
FB
More
-0.90%
Pop Out
Quote Lookup
Finance Home
Go
Why Bottled Water Comes
From California, Which
Can't Spare Much
My Portfolio
Market Data
Yahoo Originals
By Julia Lurie
22 hours ago
Business & Finance
Top Stories
Personal Finance
Wall Street Week Ahead: U.S. stocks a safe
haven, even after panic selloffs
CNBC
Contributors
Ackman files second lawsuit against U.S. gov‐
ernment
Robust manufacturing output buoys U.S. eco‐
nomic outlook
What investors should heed for the week
ahead
Why big employers like Starbucks have all the
leverage
Compare Brokers
Bottled-water drinkers, we have a problem: There's a good chance
that your water comes from California, a state experiencing the
third-driest year on record.
The details of where and how bottling companies get their water are
often quite murky, but generally speaking, bottled water falls into
two categories. The first is "spring water," or groundwater that's col‐
lected, according to the EPA, "at the point where water flows natu‐
rally to the earth's surface or from a borehole that taps into the un‐
derground source." About 55 percent of bottled water in the United
States is spring water, including Crystal Geyser and Arrowhead.
Here’s Where Dasani, Aquafina, Arrowhead, and
Crystal Geyser Get Their Water
10 Movies So Bad They Killed
Careers
Sponsored Answers Now
Must Reads
Sources: U.S. Drought Monitor, Aquafina/Pepsi,
Dasani/Coca-Cola, Crystal Geyser
Yahoo Finance
Apple's stock price signals 'a big
move is coming'
The other 45 percent comes from the municipal water supply, mean‐
ing that companies, including Aquafina and Dasani, simply treat tap
water—the same stuff that comes out of your faucet at home—and
bottle it up. (Weird, right?)
But regardless of whether companies bottle from springs or the tap,
lots of them are using water in exactly the areas that need it most
right now.
Yahoo Finance
This manufacturer does well by
paying well
The Brands That Use Water Straight From DroughtRidden California
Yahoo Finance
This bull market isn't dead yet:
Technical analyst
Yahoo Finance
Biggest money
mistakes wealthy
people make
CNBC
Sloppy summer to
continue this fall:
Stock pros
CNBC
After the exodus, how risky are high-yield
bonds?
Yahoo Finance
Coke, Monster bid
all about 'fit and
focus’
Sources: U.S. Drought Monitor, Aquafina/Pepsi,
Yahoo Finance
Dasani/Coca-Cola, Arrowhead/Nestle, Crystal Geyser;
7 ways the U.S.
economy is
trouncing Europe’s
logos courtesy Brands of the World; icons courtesy MapBox.
More Top News »
The map above shows the sources of water for four big-name com‐
panies that bottle in California. Aquafina and Dasani "sources" are
More Market News
the facilities where tap water is treated and bottled, whereas Crystal
Skirmishes In
Ukraine But No
Sign Of Conflict
Wide …
Geyser and Arrowhead "sources" refer to the springs themselves.
In the grand scheme of things, the amount of water used for bottling
00:35
in California is only a tiny fraction of the amount of water used for
SeaWorld unveils
plans for expanded
killer whale p …
food and beverage production—plenty of other bottled drinks use
California's water, and a whopping 80 percent of the state's water
01:52
supply goes toward agriculture. But still, the question remains: Why
are Americans across the country drinking bottled water from
Why you should
stop worrying and
buy the dip
drought-ridden California?
03:08
One reason is simply that California happens to be where some bot‐
tled water brands have set up shop. "You have to remember this is a
Why you should
worrying and buy
the dip
120-year-old brand," said Jane Lazgin, a representative for Arrow‐
head. "Some of these sources have long, long been associated with
03:08
the brand." Lazgin acknowledges that, from an environmental per‐
spective, "tap water is always the winner," but says that the compa‐
ny tries to manage its springs sustainably. The water inside the bot‐
tle isn't the only water that bottling companies require: Coca-Cola
bottling plants, which produce Dasani, use 1.63 liters of water for
every liter of beverage produced in California, according to CocaCola representative Dora Wong. "Our California facilities continue to
seek ways to reduce overall water use," she wrote in an email.
Another reason we're drinking California's water: California happens
to be the only Western state without groundwater regulation or man‐
agement of major groundwater use. In other words, if you're a water
company and you drill down and find water in California, it's all
yours.
Then there's the aforementioned murkiness of the industry: Compa‐
nies aren't required to publicly disclose exactly where their sources
are or how much water each facility bottles. Peter Gleick, author
of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession With Bottled
Poll
Are you bullish, bearish or neutral on the
stock market three months out?
349 days remaining
Water, says, "I don't think people have a clue—no one knows"
Bullish
where their bottled water comes from. (Fun facts he's discovered in
his research: Everest water comes from Texas, Glacier Mountain
Bearish
comes from Ohio, and only about a third of Poland Springs water
comes from the actual Poland Spring, in Maine.)
Neutral
Despite the fact that almost all U.S. tap water is better regulated and
monitored than bottled, and despite the hefty environmental foot‐
See Results
print of the bottled water industry, perhaps the biggest reason
that bottling companies are using water in drought zones is simply
because we're still providing a demand for it: In 2012 in the United
States alone, the industry produced about 10 billion gallons of bot‐
tled water, with sales revenues at $12 billion.
As Gleick wrote, "This industry has very successfully turned a public
resource into a private commodity." And consumers—well, we're
drinking it up.
Copyright © 2014 The Atlantic. All rights reserved.
Data Disclaimer
Help / Suggestions
Privacy
About Our Ads
Terms
This post appears courtesy of Climate Desk.
Read Why Bottled Water Comes From California, Which Can't Spare
Much on theatlantic.com
More From The Atlantic
How Uber Helps Women Break Into the Taxi Industry
Women Are More Likely to Secure Kickstarter Funding Than Men
Daimler Employees Can Set Emails to Auto-Delete During Vacation
View Comments (877)
Share this
http://finance.yahoo.‐
com/news/why-bottled-wa‐
ter-comes-califor‐
Recommended for You
nia-200816657.html?soc_src=copy
Divorcing after 50: The financial hazards
How to avoid financial fallout in a late-in-life divorce.
Yahoo Finance
30 Years Ago Warren Buffett Gave Away The Se‐
cret To Good Investing And Correctly Predicted No
One Would Listen
In May 1984, Warren Buffett laid out everything...
Business Insider
10 Movies So Bad They Killed Careers
AdChoices
Box office bombs happen, and many actors are able to move
on from the experience. However, these actors weren't so
lucky. Do you remember any of them?
Answers Now Sponsored
CITI: The Economy Has Entered Its Scary 'Phase
3' Where Bubbles Form Prior To A Crash
That's the phase where irrational bubbles form right before
everything comes crashing down.
Business Insider
U.S. Investment Outflow Reaches Record as China Sells Trea‐
suries
The U.S. posted a record cross-border investment outflow in June as China
and
Japan, the two top foreign holders of Treasuries, sold U.S. debt . The to‐
Bloomberg
tal net outflow of U.S. securities and banking transfers ...
Long-term investing: Don't make the big mistake
Cramer fears too many individuals go into the market as longterm investors and then make this mistake. He says it could
cost you big.
CNBC
How to Fund Your Retirement With Passive Income
Here is the standard formula for retirement saving. Many financial planners
recommend that you save 10 percent to 15 percent of you income for retire‐
ment
as soon
asReport
you start
U.S.News
& World
LP your first full-time job. After retirement, you can
withdraw about 4 percent from your retirement fund every year. Here are the
rules of thumb for retirement saving.
Indexing Gains Ground, but Not Everywhere
Passive funds continued to attract investor dollars in July, but active manage‐
ment is still preferred for overseas exposure.
Wireless price war is about to break out
Sprint's new CEO Marcelo Claure may be getting ready to un‐
leash "very disruptive" prices next week.
Hot Stock Minute
10 Things You Didn't Know about In-NOut
AdChoices
There is a lot more to In-N-Out than the cult following. These
facts will make you want to run out and grab an order of Ani‐
mal Style fries.
Answers Food Sponsored
Here's The Most Common Mistake People Make
In Protecting Their Identity
The most common misstep most of us make when...
Business Insider
Americans aren’t shopping—here’s what that
means
Are recent retail sales numbers warning us about the state of
the economy?
Talking Numbers
Here's how Apple's stock could rise 50%
There’s big money piling into Apple. If the technicals are cor‐
rect,
stock may be the star of their portfolios.
Talkingthe
Numbers
AAPL $97.98 0.49%
Where you can clear $100,000-a-year on a rental property
These are the 20 best markets for mom-and-pop landlords.
MarketWatch
Z $138.88 3.77%
Illinois company is latest to test market for carp
GRAFTON, Ill. (AP) — When they arrive at the processing
plant, the fish that have been cursed as a menace to Ameri‐
can lakes and rivers are raked onto a conveyer belt, some of
them still flopping.
Associated
Press
Heading Off to College? Time to Think About Banking Needs
First-time college students should think about the options for their financial
service needs before arriving on campus and beginning school activities.
The New York Times
Hyundai 2014 Clearance — Don't Pay
MSRP of $14,645
AdChoices
Massive August Hyundai Sale Now! Get Our Lowest Hyundai
Price & Save. Check Special Internet Hyundai Prices Right
Now. Hurry, Ends Soon.
Car.com® Sponsored
Three-wheeled Elio gets closer to going on sale
ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) — Your next commuter car could
have
two seats,
Associated
Press three wheels and get 84 miles to the gallon.
GM $33.84 -0.32%
Are Collectibles Good Investments?
When a high-net-worth investor's fancy lightly turns to guitars, or art, or an‐
tique cars, it's important to remember that, in the absence of income, an "in‐
vestment" is simply a hope that someone will pay more for the asset.
Hong Kong cuts 2014 forecast as Q2 growth slows
to 1.8%
Hong Kong Friday cut its economic growth forecast for 2014
after an unexpected slowdown in second quarter expansion
blamed on a fall-off in tourist spending and a slowdown in do‐
AFP
mestic demand. Gross domestic product grew 1.8 percent in
the three months ending June 30 compared to the same peri‐
Does George Soros know something we don't about the S&P
od last year, the lowest since 2012, a government statement
500?
said. The result falls short of a forecast by five economists
It's 13F time, and George Soros has been busy taking a big bear position on
polled by the Wall Street Journal, which expected a 2.0 per‐
the S&P 500. Does he know something we don't?
MarketWatch
cent year-on-year increase. The figure was also lower than the
previous quarter's year-on-year 2.6 percent growth, as the
Why Warren Buffett
Never
SplititsBerkshire's
Stock
government
lowered
growth forecast
for the year to two to
One share of Berkshire
Hathaway's
Class
A
stock
is
so
expensive
that it could
three percent from three to four percent.
pay
for an
entire
college education. So why on earth hasn't Warren Buffett
The Wall
Street
Journal
split
his$134.34
company's
stock?
BRK-B
-0.71%
Exclusive: Burger chain Shake Shack preparing for
an IPO - sources
Shake Shack, the fast-food restaurant chain famous for its
hamburgers and milkshakes, is preparing to go public, seek‐
ing to tap stock market demand for popular casual dining
Reuters
companies, according to people familiar with the matter. After
developing a cult following for its 'Shackburgers', 'flat-top'
hot
AdChoices
10 Celebs Who Don't Believe in
dogs and eponymous shakes, the company is now preparing
Monogamy
to serve up its own shares to the public through an initial pub‐
These non-traditional celebs are redefining relationships and
lic offering (IPO), sources said on Friday. Shake Shack's ma‐
bucking the idea of monogamous relationships. See which
jority owner, Union Square Hospitality Group LLC, has inter‐
celebs can't be tied down.
viewed investment banks in recent weeks to appoint under‐
Answers Celebs Sponsored
writers for the IPO, the people said. Shake Shack, which start‐
ed out of a hot dog kiosk in New York's Madison Square Park
in 2004, is expected to post earnings of around $20 million
next year, one of the people added.
