Does Your Bottled Water Come From a Drought Zone? by Matt Lieberman
This DNews episode is brought to you by Domain.com.
Do you know where your bottled water comes from? If the answer makes you cry, bottle
the tears. We’re going to need them.
Hey everyone, this is Matt Lieberman guest hosting for DNews. Bottled water. We know
we shouldn’t drink it because of the waste that the bottles can cause, but it’s right
there and it’s oh-so convenient. But did you know that a sizeable majority of bottled
water in the U.S. comes from California, a state currently experiencing its third driest
year ever? ...Ever?
Now bottled water tends to fall into two categories: Spring water, such as Crystal Geyser or Arrowhead,
which is groundwater that, according to the EPA, is collected “at the point where water
flows naturally to the earth’s surface or from a borehole that taps into the underground
source”. This accounts for approximately 55 percent of bottled water in the United
States. The other 45 percent is Purified Water, such as Aquafina or Dasani, which comes from
the municipal water supply. Put simply, it’s Tap Water!
Now, I must stress that the amount of water sucked up in California by bottling companies,
like the four I just mentioned, is just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount
of water used for the production of food and beverages, or for agriculture, which is responsible
for roughly 80% of California’s water supply. But still, we have to wonder: Why are we bottling
water and shipping it out of a state that deeply, deeply needs it?
Well, two reasons spring to mind. First and foremost, California is where these companies
have been based for a long time. For example, Arrowhead has been bottling California’s
water since long before plastic bottles were the norm, about 120 years. The other major
reason? California is the only western state without any form of groundwater regulation
or management. Basically, if you drill into the earth, anywhere in California, and find
water, it’s your property. No muss, no fuss, no environmental responsibility.
One more fun fact about bottled water: Companies are not required to reveal where their sources
are or how much water is bottled and shipped from their facilities. For example, only about
33 percent of Poland Spring’s bottled water comes from Maine’s actual Poland Spring.
No one is sure where the rest is sourced from.
But I guess the biggest reason that bottling companies are using water from drought zones
like California is that demand is high enough that to them, it’s a necessity. According
to the International Bottled Water Association, the United States bottling industry produced
10 billion gallons of water in 2012, and sales reached as high as 12 billion dollars. Maybe
it’s time we started using our own faucet. I mean, we might be buying the same water
anyway. Hmm. Now we want to hear from you: What can we do to curb our use of water from
drought zones? Is legislation an option, or are we on our own?
Let us know in the comments below. I’m Matt Lieberman filling in for DNews. You can find
more of my videos over at Sourcefed. Please like the video and subscribe to the channel.
Thanks for watching.