Things
aren't looking pretty for drinking water these days. Recent articles
from The New York Times and the Associated Press have
exposed unchecked pollution, grave gaps in oversight, decaying
infrastructure, and concerns about emerging contaminants.
Here's a variation on the “waiter, there’s a fly in my soup” gag. The question is how would you persuade people to knowingly drink water from a bottle that contained a dead spider? Penn Teller’s satirical US documentary series decided to find out by taking over a posh restaurant and producing a phoney “water menu” of expensive and exotic-sounding bottles – all of which had been filled from the tap using an old garden hose.
Even critics of World Water Week,
held annually in Stockholm, Sweden, agree that it's an important forum
where thousands of people working on water issues share information.
We don't miss the water when the cash runs dry. Bottled water, that is. That refreshing news came recently as
Nestle reported nearly a 5 percent drop in bottled water sales in North America and Western Europe. That company bottles water under the familiar names of Poland Spring, Perrier, S. Pellegrino, and Deer Park.
Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coke’s Dasani reported declining or weakening bottled-water sales as well.
BUNDANOON, AUSTRALIA - When the residents of Bundanoon voted last week to stop selling bottled water in town, they never expected to be thrust into the global spotlight.
With a nearly unanimous show of hands at a community meeting on July 8, locals in this tourist town touched off a worldwide debate about the social and environmental effects of bottled water that has put the beverage industry on the defensive.
NEW YORK - At New York's Del Posto, diners can share a $130 entree of wild branzino fish with roasted fennel and peperonata concentrato and a $3,600 bottle of Dom Perignon. They cannot share a bottle of Perrier or San Pellegrino water.
The Italian restaurant backed by celebrities Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich is one of several shunning bottled water, along with the city of San Francisco and New York state.
OTTAWA - The federal government spent more than $10 million in the last three years on bottled drinking water, and more than $15 million in the last five years.
The revelation came in response to a question put on the order paper by NDP MP Bruce Hyer in February. Members of Parliament can request information from the government, which must respond within 45 days or send the issue to committee.
Hyer said Wednesday the number shocked him.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has asked Canadian cities and towns to phase out the sale and purchase of bottled water on municipal property.
The federation board of directors passed the anti-bottle resolution at a meeting in Victoria on Saturday.
The move carries no legal weight and aims simply to encourage municipalities to speak out against bottled water and avoid distributing it when possible.
By the time you read this, my head will be thump-thumping - but this
is not a standard-issue New Year's Day hangover. No. My New Year's
resolution is to finally give up my addiction to two liquids that are
trashing the lives of some of the poorest people on earth: bottled
water, and Coke. In 2009, I'm determined to lose my bottle.
Toronto's decision last week to ban the sale and distribution of
bottled water on city premises was a watershed moment for water justice
advocates the world over. What was truly significant about Toronto's
action was not that it banned an environmentally destructive product,
but that it included a commitment to ensuring access to tap water in
all city facilities.
