Water Wars Essay

It is assumed that bottled water is much healthier for someone than drinking a soda. (Lauria, 665). “70 percent of bottled water

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.

The documentary, Blue Gold, World Water Wars, was a dramatic depiction of the prognosis of our ability to sustain life on the earth if we don’t take very seriously the natural resource of water. The movie by Sam Bozzo was released in 2008 and is based on the book Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke. The movie opens with a dramatic display of what happened to Pablo Valencia who in 1906 walked from Mexico to California in search of gold. He survived without water for 7 days and documented the experience. One of the most compelling statements from his experience was the statement, “who ever goes without water for a week, cries blood.” That statement was riveting and came to mind often during the course of viewing the movie. The filmmaker succeeded in galvanizing my attention with that opening frame. Bozzo highlights how extensively our ecosystem is being impacted by our seemingly lackluster regard for the water we have been given on earth. It seems as though some think water is an infinite resource. Contrarily the movie shows that our abuse of water is deteriorating water flows and threatening the sustainability of our ecosystem. The planet, human beings, plants, animals, fish, etc. all need water to survive.

In The Water Wars written by Cameron Stracher, humanity struggles to survive in a parched, dry, and post-apocalyptic Earth. The narrator, Vera, lives with his brother Will in the Republic of Illinowa, once a part of the United States. Everything in her life was normal until she and her brother decided to venture on a dangerous and perilous journey beyond their republic in order to save Kai, a boy who somehow seems to have unlimited drinking water. All the dangers and events unfolded because of one key decision made by Vera.

The world revolves around water. Without it, organisms would cease to exist. With that being said, humans depend on it on a daily basis. In the documentary “Thirst”, it covers the controversy of water privatization in Bolivia, India, and Stockton. All of these regions are opposed to water privatization by the powerful corporations that operate in the area. The people living in these places believe that water privatization negatively affects their control of their water, because it a human right. On the other hand, the multinational corporations believe that water is an economic resource that should be bought and sold, for profit. I believe that water should not have the ability to be privatized.

In the United States not only does every state have tap water running through its veins but also varying brands of bottled water in every supermarket, corner store, and gas station.

The story Thirst reflects on how global corporations like Nestle, Suez, and Veolia are rapidly purchasing local water sources such as lakes, streams, and springs. Those companies are also taking control of public water services. While trying to privatize and turn a larger profit off of water, they have manipulated and bought politicians, have gone “under the table” to make deals and undermined the democratic process by trying to deny citizens a voice in fundamental decisions about their most essential public resource. The authors ' Thirst explain the emergence of a controversial new water wars in the United States and showing how communities here are fighting this battle, often against companies headquartered overseas. The three followed water privatization battles across the United States from California to Massachusetts and from Georgia to Wisconsin, documenting the rise of public opposition to corporate control of water resources. These towns find it hard to balance a budget, so when large companies come in and offer to control the water the town looks at it as a major way to cut costs, but what it ends up costing is much more.

“Most communities have clean water,” says Alex Beauchamp of Food and Water Watch, a national organization dedicated to keeping “clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes.”(page #) Beauchamp’s organization believes water is a public commodity, not a private one, and shouldn’t be privatized.(page #)

While multiple examples are given to back up this claim, including the point that bottled water can be helpful in times of disaster when the water is undrinkable. The other side is that bottled water is not safer than tap water. Per the Natural Resources Defense Council, bottled water is more likely to be polluted than tap water (“Bottled Water”). It is also stated that bottled water hurts the environment because of all the waste that is produced each year from it. This can make one wonder if bottled water is actually safer than tap water and Fuller’s article can help influence this said audience. She writes about a hearing in which Congress was told of two studies that question that exact problem of bottled water’s safety. It is noted that municipal water systems are required to provide annual reports disclosing the name of their water source and any contaminants found in testing, bottled water companies, however, are not required (Fuller). Another statement made is that bottled water companies are not required to test the water with certified laboratories, but it is a requirement for tap water suppliers. Therefore, since bottled water is not considered any safer than tap water due to the lack of government regulation within bottled water companies. According to Fuller, bottled water companies are not held to the same regulations that municipal water systems are, such as giving the

You may think that drinking bottled water is healthier than drinking tap water. However, according to a recent Dateline NBC top story on the quality of bottled water, this healthy move is not so healthy after all. Recently, a bottled water company in California was found to be bottling its brand of Yosemite water from a well in Fullerton, right below the LA freeway system (Verhovek 2). While this is happening the American public remains

Many people believe that their source of water does not matter and has little or no consequences. Most of those people argue that all water is the same but for those worried about our environment, bottled water is highly wasteful because they believe it’s more appealing because it might be contaminated. The reason this should be important to our society is that good clean water is fundamental to a good health. Our current generations purchase their water because they have been convinced that the specific liquid is the purest drink around. But they can’t really say that until they truly know where their water is coming from. Labels can be extremely misleading and deceptive like in one case where a company claimed their water came from pure

Over the past 25 years, bottled water industry has climbed into the top of the world market. (M.A. & A.B., 2008) In the late 1970s, the demand for bottled water has been increasing as people started to worry about the quality of tap water and began to purchase bottled water. (M.A. & A.B., 2008) Furthermore, followed with a promotion campaign by processors of bottled water, the need of bottled water has gradually escalated, became a multibillion-dollar industry and the major

Water privatization is a considerable problem in the world, and companies like Nestlé are declaring that water is not a human right and opening up water to be sold to the highest bidder. Private companies must be highly regulated before we hand over a significant amount of water. Everyone can agree we are in a fresh water crisis with lakes, rivers and streams drying up, and the rest getting polluted. Mother nature cannot keep up with our consumption and many underdeveloped countries are suffering the worst.