As Bonners, I think we need to have an active awareness about water problems as it is the top killer in the world at a rate of 25,000 per year.

Why should I not drink bottled water?

I want to talk to you guys a little about Bottled water and why we SHOULD NOT buy it.  I'm doing my summer of service with EDGE outreach in Louisville and their main concern is providing water purifiers to developing countries and people with no clean source of water.  They have installed water purifiers on every continent but Antarctica, mainly by sending out small teams equipped with a translator and the tools and knowledge necessary to set up these purifiers and train local people in how to use them.  These purifiers can purify 55 gallons of water per minute (not a typo) and the only things they need to run are salt and a car battery which EDGE provides a reusable charger for.  Once the battery dies (in approximately 3 years), Edge sends out a team to replace the battery and to check on the status of the purifier and the community using it. Now I want to tell you a really cool story before I talk about bottled water.

Melissa Raley, a junior and the 3rd Vinson/Stephenson RA, went to rural Costa Rica to install a water purifier a few years ago.  After installing the purifier, her supervisor told her that they had only installed it to train the people and that the actual purifier would be arriving in a month or so.  They needed to disassemble the one they had already installed and take it back to Louisville.  Melissa refused, seeing that it was the only source of clean water for these people, and insisted that the purifier stay.  Reluctantly, her supervisor let her have her way.  A week after they left Costa Rica, having left the purifier there, a devastating hurricane struck Costa Rica.  Melissa's water purifier was the only source of drinkable water in the whole country.

Now bottled water.  I hate it and you shouldn't buy it.  Why?

1. ONE person in the entire US government is in charge of supervising what goes into bottled water.  And, bottled water is not even that person's primary job.  Bottled water is less regulated than any other bottled or unbottled drink in the US.  We have no idea what is in it.  Studies have shown it has Benzene in it, used to make plastic, probably cancerous. Tap water is highly regulated by the government and private companies.  They know exactly what is in it and you can easily find out.

2. 25,000 people die every year from water-borne disease, making it the NUMBER ONE killer of people in the world, daily.  4,000 people die from contaminated water a day, double the 2,000 who die every day from AIDS.  In case you are unaware, I was in the hospital for 3 weeks last year, underwent two surgeries to put stuff into and take it out of me heart, a spinal tap, having my blood drawn every 30 minutes, and was on 4 high strength IV antibiotics and the pill for of Vicodin because I caught a water-borne illness with a 30% mortality rate.  That's what it takes to fix a water-bourne illness, people in developing countries don't have those kinds of resources.  This problem is important to me.  Water-bourne diseases aren't fun so let's not let it happen to other people.  Many people are unable to get purified water or to have access to or control of their nearest sources of water because bottled water companies don't just bottle water.  They also control and then sell water at high rates to poor people who are unable to afford it.  After taking over a river in Bolivia, the CEO of Evian (which owns about 10 other water companies) said "We need to make these people understand that they can't be stealing water.  Water is a resource and they have to pay for it.  They don't understand that so what we need to do is change their culture."  What is happening is that these people are not paying for water, they are going back to unhealthy drinking sources because they are free.  This water often contains disease and kills these people.

3. Dams created by bottled water companies to divert the flow of the water annually displace over 1 million people in China, India, and African countries.

4. This is not just happening in developing countries.  This is happening in the U.S. too.  Perrier Water Company took over a small town in Michigan and pumped them so dry of water that the city turned into a giant sinkhole.  The city sued Perrier and won but Perrier counter-sued and regained rights to drill for water until a decision can be found in trial.  Similar incidents have occurred in India and in Bolivia where villages, after suing and winning, have had their court decisions ignored or have been counter-sued by water companies.

5. The chemical Bisphenol A, found in many water bottles, is a proven cause of breast cancer and possibly other cancers.  This chemical seeps from the bottle into the water.  The government is currently conducting tests on this chemical to see if it should be banned.

Bottled water companies are guilty of some of the most flagrant and inhumane human rights violations by monopolizing water resources and making them available only to those with money.  What I have listed is only a small sampling of abuses.  Why should we buy water when we can get it out of the tap?  Furthermore, why should we buy unregulated water with no idea what is in it when we can have tap water which is much cleaner and safer?  Lastly, why should we buy a product that is playing a large part in the deaths of 4,000 people a day by monopolizing their water sources and refusing them the right to clean water if they can't pay?

If you have any questions please check out www.edgeoutreach.com or e-mail me at beth.neal@centre.edu.

www.flowthefilm.com

www.article31.org

Is water really available to everyone?

- Does the world really face a global problem?

- The global average withdrawal of fresh water was 9% of the amount that flowed through the world’s hydrologic cycle - seemingly no! Hurray water!

- In many places the maximum amount of usable fresh water may well be less than one fifth...boo

- an alarming number of the world’s great rivers no longer reach the sea...boo!

- We use lots of water and the larger the population grows the more water we use...how do we use so much water and who uses it?

- To grow a kilogram of wheat requires around 1,000 litres. But it takes as much as 15,000 litres of water to produce a kilo of beef. - we are becoming more and more meat lovers....

- this year, asia will eat around 50kg. This difference translates into 390km3 (1km3 is 1 trillion litres) of water—almost as much as total water use in Europe...that's a lot

 - to make matters worse - if living standards in the poorest countries start to rise again, water use is likely to soar - more city dwellers = more water usage!

Population growth - the world will need as much as 60% more water for agriculture to feed those 2 billion extra mouths

- Climate change...booo...It brings longer droughts between more intense periods of rain.

  Three ways it is bad

       1. crops grow too fast, then wilt

       2. Larger floods overwhelm existing controls

       3. has persuaded western governments to subsidise biofuels - require an extra 180km3 of water

But what can be done Josh?

Farmers use 70-80% of our used water - ensure water evaporates from the leaves of the plant, rather than from the soil; grow plants in places that require less water to grow!

If Trade patterns more closely reflected the amount of water embedded in traded goods, world better off - buy foods from places where it uses less water to grow

Basic information about who uses how much water is lacking - especially in the bottling industry

But Josh what can I DO?

• The Nature Conservancy, an ecologically-minded NGO, is working on a certification plan which aims to give companies and businesses seals of approval (a bit like the Fairtrade symbol) according to how efficiently they use water. - buy these things
• Take Patrick N. showers - get body wet, turn water off, lather, turn shower on, clean and then get out!
• BE WELL INFORMED! The best way to solve problems is to be informed about them and to engage people in conversation, the more people that know, the better!
• Also, so when you are rich and famous and have many political contacts, you can make sure they know about this too and make some big change!

   

For more information, contact Josh Moore at joshua.moore@centre.edu.