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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
More on the bottled water front

The bottled water wars are heating up.

Today's Miami Herald writes about radio ads that tout Miami-Dade's tap water as cheaper, purer and safer than bottled water.

But Nestle Waters North America, which makes nearly $4 billion a year selling bottle water brands, has objected.

“It's an attack on the integrity of the company. It's an attack on the product we produce — and it's blatantly wrong,” Nestle spokesman Jim McClellan is quoted as saying.

According to the article, the ads ended a five-week run last month, so Nestle's threats to sue hold no water.

But John Renfrow, director of the county's Water and Sewer Department, defended the county's right to tout its tap water in the article. “Basically, the message is that our water is fine,” he said. “It's wonderful. It's delicious. This is just one of many different spots we've done.”

Plenty of municipalities have touted their own water. But this is the first time, Nestle told the Herald, that one stepped over the line to attack bottled water specifically.

Meanwhile, The Environment Report recently published an interview with Elizabeth Royte, formerly a trash maven who wrote the illuminating "Garbage Land," now author of "Bottlemania: How Water Went On Sale And Why We Bought It."

Her message: "You're paying for advertising, you're paying for lawyers, you're paying for PR flacks, you're paying for the right to extract water from communities where many people might not. So there's a lot of legal battles going on over it, so some of your money may be going toward that. You'll be doing your pocketbook and the environment a big favor by just getting a good refillable, reusable, washable bottle and filling it up with good old tap water."

The website for the book is www.bottlemania.net. It has excepts, reviews and a oodles of additional information.

Lisa Margonelli wrote in a New York Times review: ""The facile answer is marketing, marketing and more marketing, but Elizabeth Royte goes much deeper into the drink, streaming trends cultural, economic, political and hydrological into an engaging investigation of an unexpectedly murky substance."



Posted by Sandy Bauers @ 11:44 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Sandy Bauers
Sandy Bauers is the environment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where she has worked for more than 20 years as a reporter and editor. She lives in northern Chester County with her husband, two cats, a large vegetable garden and a flock of pet chickens.

GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.

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