Tag: bottled water

In Florida, Democratic State Rep. Franklin Sands has filed a bill to “collect a modest fee from bottled water companies that derive extravagant profits for the privilege of pumping millions of gallons of water daily from Florida’s springs and other water bodies.” Sands’ filing of House Bill 781 comes after public criticism over water bottling giants’ current ability to extract — without charge — water for commercial purposes.

Last year the Colorado Independent reported that Nestle made a deal with Chaffee County to pump millions of gallons of water from springs near the Arkansas River, cart it 6,000 miles a day on the road between Johnson Village and Denver, pour it into bottles and sell it as Arrowhead Springs mineral water. That's the same water that comes out of taps in municipalities across the state, water Coloradans can drink for a fraction of the price Nestle charges. The Chaffee County case was just one flash point in the larger battle over bottled water. Today, the group Online Education is sending around an info-graphic on bottled water prodding Americans to just think about what they're doing, at least a little bit, next time they go to the gym or the corner store or Costco or anywhere bottled water winks at you alluringly from a shelf.

“The only thing that has matched the explosion of bottled water consumption is the backlash against it,” says Noah Hall, who teaches law at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan. He has testified before Congress regarding bottled water and has represented environmental groups in Michigan in litigation against Nestle, which is mired in controversy over its Arrowhead brand taking water from the Arkansas River basin in Colorado.

Why do people hate Nestle? Why are people in Chaffee County up in arms over a water deal that in the overall scheme of...

Last year, the city of Aurora made a deal to lease 65 million gallons of water to Nestle. In making the deal, the city council moved against the city's culture of water conservation, bypassed the Aurora Citizen Water Committee, alienated one of the city's vital water partners, the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, and also may have violated the terms of its rights to Arkansas Basin water--all for a mere $160,000 per year, a fraction of the profits Nestle will reap from bottling the water and selling it across the mountain west and beyond.

Is bottled water the new cigarette? Beginning January 2011, it will be illegal to sell bottled water in Concord, Mass. Although the city council...

The state spent $154,000 on bottled water last year, which was a foolish waste, says enviro group Corporate Accountability International (CAI). The group held...