The Water Bottling Industries Put Out False Advertising

It would be assumed that it would be the least that bottled water companies could do is make sure that all pollutants are out of the water. “Alas, some bottled waters contain the same chemicals anyway- and they are, in any case, unavoidable”. (Standage, 663). It is said that contaminants are more likely to build up when it is transported in very hot conditions. (Diduch, Polkowska, and Namiesnik). “The presence of organic contaminants in water is becoming a more common problem, mainly because of the impact that human activities are having on the natural environment”. (Diduch, Polkowska, and Namiesnik). It is clear that it takes a lot of work to remove all contaminants from water. One slight error is all it takes for someone to be contaminated by harsh chemicals or bacteria. “The plastic components or additives in water can modify the organoleptic properties and, if present at high concentrations, may trigger health problems because of the potential toxic properties of some chemicals”. (Diduch, Polkowska, and Namiesnik).

Bottled water manufacturers’ marketing campaigns capitalize on isolated instances of contaminated public drinking water supplies by encouraging the perception that their products are purer and safer than tap water. But the reality is that tap water is held to

Seventy percent of the human body is comprised of water. This makes drinking water quality vital. The EPA estimates the average adult consumes 1.2 liters daily or 115 gallons of community (tap) water daily while the average consumption of bottled water per capita in the U.S. is in excess of 30.8 gallons per year and is expected to continue to increase according to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and the Beverage Marketing Association’s 2013 report. Bottled water costs anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon than the average cost of tap, but people’s perception that bottled water is purer, safer or healthier is driven, in part, by strong bottled water marketing campaigns that focus on news reports about crises that involve municipal water supplies. (NRDC, “Bottled Water Pure Drink or Pure Hype”) The sources for both tap and bottled waters as well as additives to either enrich or neutralize contents of water determine the mineral and chemical composition of drinking water. Is bottled water really any purer or healthier than local tap water?

In fact 22% of test water bottle brands had chemical contaminants higher than the state limit (ABC, 1). So why do Americans think bottled water is so great? Maybe it’s because of how much companies advertise the product, advertising expenses for bottled water totaled $61 million in 2012 ("International Bottled Water Association" 1). Whatever the reason may be, bottled water is the second most popular beverage in the U.S.A., and more and more bottles of water are being produced and distributed this very second.

Is the great taste and convenience of bottled water worth the cost of the environmental damages it will cause in years to come? Most would say the cons of bottled water definitely outweigh the pros of bottled water and that everyone should drink tap water out of reusable containers. The answer seems obvious, but it is a simple issue. Bottled water is not worth the cost to the environment, but with some resourceful thinking, bottled water can be exempt from its environmental damages.

Water is essential to life, scientific fact, not debatable (Tracy). More than half of all Americans drink bottled water; about a third of the public consumes it regularly (Olsen). Many drink or buy bottled water simply because they believe it is of better quality, cleaner, and better tasting. On the contrary, several individuals do not know the cons of drinking bottled water. Today, there are many misconceptions and myths about bottled water. Many people are uneducated about what goes into our bottles and how it not only affects us but also our environment. In the article “The New Oil” by Jeneen Interlandi and Ryan Tracy they discuss the issues that have to do with water and the privatization of it. They believe there is a crisis and something has to be done. Due to the cost, pollution, shortage, and health issues, bottled water should be outlawed. Water should not be controlled by water bottle companies and should not be allowed to be sold in plastic bottles.

Companies using multiple advertising strategies to make people continue buying products. In the video “The Story of Bottled Water,” Annie Leonard addressed that companies need to sell more and more products to keep growing. Americans almost consume half a billion bottled water every week, and it is enough to circle the earth five times. Annie mentioned the term, “Manufacture demands” - the companies using advertising strategies to make people think they have to spend money on products they do not need, or they already have. Bottled water companies claim that the tap water is not sanitized and unhealthy for the human body. Therefore, people got scared to drink tap water at home. They are rather paying thousands of times more for a bottled water even it is free to drink tap water. Water bottle companies are seducing customers by putting images of mountains and rivers to convince the buyers that the water is safe and clean. They promote that it is an economical way for people to consume plastic bottled water because the water came from natural resources. In fact, tap water is the primary sources of most of the bottled water, and the bottles are not

In a qualitative study performed in the United Kingdom, “the majority of participants associated bottled water with having fewer impurities than tap water, and were more likely to trust the quality of bottled water than tap water” (Ward). Individuals with well water should also be attentive to the purity of their water supply, as it is not even held to regulation standard. Looking at the facts though, bottled water is regulated by Food and Drug Administration in equivalence to the Environmental Protection Agency who holds the public officials accountable for the standards of tap water (Hogan & Larsen). This is not to say, though, that there is not human error on both sides that can cause room for contamination of a drinking supply and jeopardize the safety of the

According to a four-year, detailed investigation to evaluate the quality and safety of bottled water conducted by an environmental advocacy group, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), traces of various chemicals (THMs such as chloroform and BDCM, both probable human carcinogens) and arsenic were discovered in high levels. Another chemical found in PET plastic bottles is antimony that is harmless in small doses but in larger doses can cause nausea, vomiting, and death. (Ban the Bottle, 2014) A senior scientist at the NRDC, Dr. Gina Solomon told The New York Times that “there is no reason to believe that bottled water is safer than tap water.” (Ban the Bottle, 2014) Public water in the U.S. is heavily regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because they require numerous tests for bacteria daily which are available to the public. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water and only require tests on a weekly basis and does not share their discoveries with neither the public nor EPA. (Ban the Bottle,

Another health-related scam that affects most of us is bottled water. According to Food & Water Watch, about half of it is filtered tap water with fancy names, as evidenced in one case by an actual "tap water" label on a company's product. Yet with the demise of community water fountains, and the barrage of advertising for "safe and pure" drinking water, unsuspecting Americans pay dearly: for the price we pay for a bottle of water we would be able to fill up that bottle a thousand times with tap water.

Gleick supports this argument and cites specific grounds that disprove bottled water companies’ false claims. For example oxygenated water is said to “strengthen your immune system…and even brain function” despite scientific testing done proving that a single breath of air contains more oxygen than the product itself (Gleick 118). Next, the author recalls someone who drank nothing but super-hydrating Penta Water, which cost over sixty dollars a case. This costly expense was proven to be futile, because scientific evidence proved that Penta did not have any health benefits superior to those of ordinary water (Gleick 129). Barnett incorporates a qualifier which states that it is difficult to conclude whether bottled or tap water is healthier. However, this does not take away from the fact that the EPA, which regulates municipal water, is more strict than the FDA is with regulation over bottled water. Bottled water companies claim they intensely purify their products despite this evidence. These seemingly astonishing claims mislead consumers who do not possess the knowledge nor the equipment necessary to test the water themselves. Consumers spend money to purchase products that turn out to have no outstanding health benefits. They may additionally put their health at risk by consuming bottled water which may contain pollutants detrimental to the human body.

The chapter “Selling Bottled Water”, by Peter Gleick, works within the argument of Cynthia Barnett’s “Business in a Bottle”, which illustrates the superficial and deceptive image of bottled water, due to false advertising and pseudoscientific claims by greedy bottling companies. The companies take advantage of a free resource and make millions in profit. Although utilizing different styles, Gleick and Barnett’s grounds intertwine, exposing bottling companies’ manipulative tricks while opening the population’s eyes to the lie that bottled water is cleaner, healthier, and safer than tap water. Barnett focuses on specific bottling companies’ data and incorporates statistics for support, while Gleick separates his argument into various segments and provides a brief historical lesson on false advertising; these techniques expose the psychological effect of false advertising in the population and neatly organize the information proving false advertising exists.

Have you ever had any concerns about bottled water? Do you think that bottled water consumption should be banned? Bottled water is water packed in plastic containers and sold for human consumption (Health Canada, 2013). Currently, the amount of bottled water consumed has increased considerably since many people feel it is safer drinking bottled water than tap water (Parent and Wrong, 2014). According to The Statistics Portal, the global sale of bottled water took a leap from 161, 589 to 181, 608 liters from 2009 to 2011. Only in the United States, each American citizen consumed around 32 gallons of bottled water in 2013, thus meaning an equivalent growth of 15, 94% over 2009 (The Statistics Portal, 2014). In fact, due to good portability, bottled water has been helpful in both simple and complex situations such as daily exercises and natural disasters. Even though having those few considerable advantages, bottled water still have been less beneficial; especially due to the negative impacts in the socio-economic, health and environmental fields.

There are basically three ways that water is privatized; bottled water, municipal services and bulk water sales. As a consumer of bottled water I wanted to research further and find out the truth about it. What I discovered was that we as consumers have been fooled by these water corporations. To begin with the cost of bottled water is two thousand times more than tap water. I found it absolutely ludicrous that we are willing to pay such a high price for bottled water considering it costs close to nothing to drink water from the tap. In reality, as I found out, most bottled water which we believe comes from some exotic spring is actually filtered tap water from a U.S. city. According to Food & Water Watch one third of all bottled water comes from a public water source. #4

While we are always being told to drink our eight glasses of water a day, we are not usually advised about which is the best water to drink. Of course water bottles companies might provide encouragement that their water is superior to tap water, their recommendation is financially biased. As for public water, its levels of purity depend greatly on geographical location. Since it can be a daunting process trying to figure out exactly what the water contaminants are in a particular location, more and more people are either investing in a water filter and/or buying bottled water. In fact, there is a boom of “willingness to pay” for water, whether by filter or bottle, and while bottled water is certainly the less environmentally-friendly option, many people think it is superior to filtered tap water (Johnstone et al.2012).