Water used to be free.
In fact, it still is -- at least in nations blessed with plentiful clean tap water like the U.S. -- but that doesn't stop the world from spending over $100 billion on bottled water a year.
This strange industry is exploding overseas as well.
Who got the idea to sell us something we can get for free? And how did it get so popular that now more than half of Americans drink it?
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Showing posts with label Bottle water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bottle water. Show all posts
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Peter Gleick: Whither Bottled Water Sales?
A year ago, when my book “Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water” was released, new statistics had just come out revealing that annual sales of bottled water had declined for only the second time (2008 and 2009) in the forty-year history of bottled water sale in the United States.
Major public campaigns against bottled water had recently been initiated by students, activist groups, local communities, and even some restaurateurs, including several high-profile ones in the Bay Area and the two-year drop in sales after years of double-digit annual growth was perceived by some, including me, as an indication that the unchallenged claims of the industry were beginning to be met with skepticism, education, and consumer reaction.
Around the same time, the industry launched major pro-bottled water PR campaigns to counter the anti-bottled water movement, pointing to their efforts to go “green” by using thinner bottles, or bottles with more environmentally friendly materials, or touting the purity of their products. The industry also began a series of price cuts to win back customers and they launched new television and print advertisements, while publicly arguing that the drop in sales was simply the result of the bad economy, rather than any success on the part of the “ban the bottle” crowd.
Water Numbers: US bottled water sales in 2010 are up 3.5% from 2009, but still below 2007 levels.
A year has gone by, and new data are out from the bottled water industry showing a slight recovery in sales in the U.S. — up 3.5% from 2009. This is a relief for the bottlers, who are crowing “The Recovery Begins” and the “storm has passed.” Digging deeper, however, reveals that the “recovery” is weak. While the volume of bottled water sold in the U.S. in 2010 was up from 2009, per-capita consumption only rose 2.6%, which is less than it fell in 2009, and total revenue was still below the levels from 2006, 2007, and 2008 due to price cutting. There are no public estimates of profits, which could have been further reduced by increases in the costs of production (especially the high energy costs to make bottled water) and advertising.
Moreover, while sales grew worldwide in 2010, there were some pronounced regional differences. Indeed, according to the industry, four of the top 10 bottled-water consuming countries of the world (Italy, Belgium/Luxembourg, France, and Spain) saw reductions in the amount of bottled water sold per person in 2010 compared to 2005, and in Italy and Spain the total volumes are lower as well.
Like the tobacco industry when U.S. sales began to stagnate as the public became more aware of the adverse consequences of smoking, bottlers are moving offshore to new markets, especially in the developing world where the high-quality tap water here in the U.S. is typically unavailable. While sales stagnate in the industrialized world, they are growing rapidly in places like Mexico, China, the Middle East, and India — at least among the richer segments of those populations. The poor are still condemned to drink contaminated water, or to spend a hugely disproportionate part of their limited incomes on water from private vendors or bottlers.
There is no doubt that bottled water remains popular and it certainly is a big business. It will remain so as long as people don’t have access to reliable, safe drinking water from the tap and don’t know about, or care about, the environmental costs of drinking bottled water. But efforts to eliminate the reasons people buy bottled water should continue: we must reinvest in our superb tap water system to make it safer and better, eliminate false and misleading bottled-water advertising, and make access to public water easier by fixing our public drinking water fountains and expanding access to them.
read more
Major public campaigns against bottled water had recently been initiated by students, activist groups, local communities, and even some restaurateurs, including several high-profile ones in the Bay Area and the two-year drop in sales after years of double-digit annual growth was perceived by some, including me, as an indication that the unchallenged claims of the industry were beginning to be met with skepticism, education, and consumer reaction.
Around the same time, the industry launched major pro-bottled water PR campaigns to counter the anti-bottled water movement, pointing to their efforts to go “green” by using thinner bottles, or bottles with more environmentally friendly materials, or touting the purity of their products. The industry also began a series of price cuts to win back customers and they launched new television and print advertisements, while publicly arguing that the drop in sales was simply the result of the bad economy, rather than any success on the part of the “ban the bottle” crowd.
Water Numbers: US bottled water sales in 2010 are up 3.5% from 2009, but still below 2007 levels.
A year has gone by, and new data are out from the bottled water industry showing a slight recovery in sales in the U.S. — up 3.5% from 2009. This is a relief for the bottlers, who are crowing “The Recovery Begins” and the “storm has passed.” Digging deeper, however, reveals that the “recovery” is weak. While the volume of bottled water sold in the U.S. in 2010 was up from 2009, per-capita consumption only rose 2.6%, which is less than it fell in 2009, and total revenue was still below the levels from 2006, 2007, and 2008 due to price cutting. There are no public estimates of profits, which could have been further reduced by increases in the costs of production (especially the high energy costs to make bottled water) and advertising.
Moreover, while sales grew worldwide in 2010, there were some pronounced regional differences. Indeed, according to the industry, four of the top 10 bottled-water consuming countries of the world (Italy, Belgium/Luxembourg, France, and Spain) saw reductions in the amount of bottled water sold per person in 2010 compared to 2005, and in Italy and Spain the total volumes are lower as well.
Like the tobacco industry when U.S. sales began to stagnate as the public became more aware of the adverse consequences of smoking, bottlers are moving offshore to new markets, especially in the developing world where the high-quality tap water here in the U.S. is typically unavailable. While sales stagnate in the industrialized world, they are growing rapidly in places like Mexico, China, the Middle East, and India — at least among the richer segments of those populations. The poor are still condemned to drink contaminated water, or to spend a hugely disproportionate part of their limited incomes on water from private vendors or bottlers.
There is no doubt that bottled water remains popular and it certainly is a big business. It will remain so as long as people don’t have access to reliable, safe drinking water from the tap and don’t know about, or care about, the environmental costs of drinking bottled water. But efforts to eliminate the reasons people buy bottled water should continue: we must reinvest in our superb tap water system to make it safer and better, eliminate false and misleading bottled-water advertising, and make access to public water easier by fixing our public drinking water fountains and expanding access to them.
read more
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Making every drop count for regional water security
The last decade has seen the highest number of natural disasters in recorded history; called the “warmest decade” and marred by catastrophic water related disasters, in the vein of the tsunami (2004), Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the floods in Pakistan (2010). Most recently calamity hit home when the Eastern Province and other parts of the island were pelted with incessant rain. As is common knowledge, these disasters are the manifestation of the greater issue of climate change engulfing the planet and they are followed on by the more tangible tragedy of food scarcity.
Experts gathered last week to address these vital issues at a workshop on the lines of “Climate Change, Food and water security; identifying critical issues and exploring cooperative strategies in an age of increased risk and uncertainty for South Asia.” The discussion facilitated an exchange between experts on this area from all over South Asia and was organised by the Global Water Partnership and the International Water Management Institute (IMWI), which is based in Colombo. The South Asian arm of Water Vision 2025 by the Global Water Partnership envisages “poverty in South Asia will be eradicated and living conditions of all the people will be uplifted to sustainable levels of comfort, health and wellbeing through coordinated and integrated development and management of waster resources of the region.”
The issue at the forefront of the minds of those at the workshop was the preparedness of the South Asian region for the challenge posed by climate change and the inevitable natural disasters it brings. “We are being pushed into a situation where extreme events are overtaking us and the question is; what are we doing enough to be prepared for what seems to be a continuous challenge? I think that this activity where we have brought together all the South Asian countries is an excellent opportunity to discuss this along these lines of collective preparedness,” Chair of the Sri Lanka water partnership Kusum Atukorala said.
Chair of the South Asia Global Water Partnership Sardar Tariq emphasised the need to recognize the conglomerate responsibility of all states in South Asia to water related challenges. “If you consider water management in South Asia every country individually has an impact and is working very fast on our goals of water for all, water for environment and water for development. But in the context of climate change we have found that we have to come out of these territorial boundaries and we have to have a more holistic view and see how we can manage water resources on a regional level and move out from this boundary mentality,” he says.
In the Sri Lankan context Atukorala sees a great overlap in responsibilities which leads to inefficiency and bad water management. “If you take most South Asian countries and we are not an exception we have bifurcated responsibilities for water management; the water board would be doing one thing the irrigation ministry would be doing another thing but then if you look at it seriously there is a great deal of overlap and replication. Now for instance if you take water from irrigation, it is the same water that is being taken for water supply. Integrated water supply management tries to bring all the stakeholders together and this is where the Sri Lanka water partnership comes in -bringing stakeholders together,” she said.
For the everyday individual who can make the whole-scale institutional changes necessary yet is willing to in their own way contribute to protecting the vital resources of water Atukorala says rainwater harvesting is a suitable option. “If you are building a new house this is clearly more expensive but if you consider the amount you will save on your water bill in the long run it tends to pay off. With rainwater you won’t have to pay anything and you will generally have a reliable stored supply- you don’t have to use it for drinking but you can always use it for flushing or washing clothes etc,” she explains.
Fellow of IMWI and Ground water expert Dr. Tushaar Shah explains that ground water utilization is also an apt way for households to save on their water bills while conserving water. “We have to manage groundwater according to the type of acquiface- that is if the ground is full of rock formations or not in the former there is very little water that gathers. In Sri Lanka this is the case. Therefore you must use an open well, In these open wells if you start pumping using an electric or diesel pump then what you can pump in a given period is what is there in the well at that time, then you have to rest that well for 7 to 8 hours,” he cautions.
Water is vital for our everyday needs. Yet our mismanagement of the resources provided to us has caused water to now become this sinister force that could destroy all that mankind had called development. In the face of this challenge all we can do is learn to protect whatever resources we have left and to mitigate the harmful actions of our ancestors to ensure that we are not altogether destroyed.
* The World Meteorological
Organization
Daily Mirror
Experts gathered last week to address these vital issues at a workshop on the lines of “Climate Change, Food and water security; identifying critical issues and exploring cooperative strategies in an age of increased risk and uncertainty for South Asia.” The discussion facilitated an exchange between experts on this area from all over South Asia and was organised by the Global Water Partnership and the International Water Management Institute (IMWI), which is based in Colombo. The South Asian arm of Water Vision 2025 by the Global Water Partnership envisages “poverty in South Asia will be eradicated and living conditions of all the people will be uplifted to sustainable levels of comfort, health and wellbeing through coordinated and integrated development and management of waster resources of the region.”
The issue at the forefront of the minds of those at the workshop was the preparedness of the South Asian region for the challenge posed by climate change and the inevitable natural disasters it brings. “We are being pushed into a situation where extreme events are overtaking us and the question is; what are we doing enough to be prepared for what seems to be a continuous challenge? I think that this activity where we have brought together all the South Asian countries is an excellent opportunity to discuss this along these lines of collective preparedness,” Chair of the Sri Lanka water partnership Kusum Atukorala said.
Chair of the South Asia Global Water Partnership Sardar Tariq emphasised the need to recognize the conglomerate responsibility of all states in South Asia to water related challenges. “If you consider water management in South Asia every country individually has an impact and is working very fast on our goals of water for all, water for environment and water for development. But in the context of climate change we have found that we have to come out of these territorial boundaries and we have to have a more holistic view and see how we can manage water resources on a regional level and move out from this boundary mentality,” he says.
In the Sri Lankan context Atukorala sees a great overlap in responsibilities which leads to inefficiency and bad water management. “If you take most South Asian countries and we are not an exception we have bifurcated responsibilities for water management; the water board would be doing one thing the irrigation ministry would be doing another thing but then if you look at it seriously there is a great deal of overlap and replication. Now for instance if you take water from irrigation, it is the same water that is being taken for water supply. Integrated water supply management tries to bring all the stakeholders together and this is where the Sri Lanka water partnership comes in -bringing stakeholders together,” she said.
For the everyday individual who can make the whole-scale institutional changes necessary yet is willing to in their own way contribute to protecting the vital resources of water Atukorala says rainwater harvesting is a suitable option. “If you are building a new house this is clearly more expensive but if you consider the amount you will save on your water bill in the long run it tends to pay off. With rainwater you won’t have to pay anything and you will generally have a reliable stored supply- you don’t have to use it for drinking but you can always use it for flushing or washing clothes etc,” she explains.
Fellow of IMWI and Ground water expert Dr. Tushaar Shah explains that ground water utilization is also an apt way for households to save on their water bills while conserving water. “We have to manage groundwater according to the type of acquiface- that is if the ground is full of rock formations or not in the former there is very little water that gathers. In Sri Lanka this is the case. Therefore you must use an open well, In these open wells if you start pumping using an electric or diesel pump then what you can pump in a given period is what is there in the well at that time, then you have to rest that well for 7 to 8 hours,” he cautions.
Water is vital for our everyday needs. Yet our mismanagement of the resources provided to us has caused water to now become this sinister force that could destroy all that mankind had called development. In the face of this challenge all we can do is learn to protect whatever resources we have left and to mitigate the harmful actions of our ancestors to ensure that we are not altogether destroyed.
* The World Meteorological
Organization
Daily Mirror
Thursday, 17 March 2011
World Water Day 22.3.2011
The objective of World Water Day 2011 is to focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems.
This year theme, Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge, aims to spotlight and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to actively engage in addressing the defy of urban water management.
learn more
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
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