by Patricia Lynn

Do you remember when you got your water from water fountains? When did that stop--and more importantly--why did it?

Well, corporations like Coke, Nestlé and Pepsi have spent tens of millions of dollars convincing us that bottled water is cleaner, healthier and better for us than tap water. The reality, however, is that bottled water is less regulated than tap water.

The bottled water industry has been booming for the last decade, fueled by misleading advertising. Half of all Americans drink bottled water, and one in six Americans drink only bottled water.This is about much more than price gouging or duping the public. In the long-term view, our human right to water is at stake.

Water quality in the United States is largely quite good, especially compared with the rest of the world, and has been improving. Ten years ago, water quality was roughly the same, yet people drank much less bottled water. It was not until water bottlers came on the scene and preyed on people’s fears of drinking polluted water that people’s perceptions began to change. 

Drinking bottled water isn’t a good solution to problems with tap water quality. Stopping pollution and improving public water systems is the better way: 85 percent of the American public agrees.

Earlier this month, corporations like Coke and Suez participated in the World Water Forum, a major international gathering that promotes the interests of the private water industry. Outside the World Water Forum, activists from around the world came together to challenge increasing corporate control of water. People’s movements and NGOs from every region of the world joined in a common refrain, “Our water is not for sale.” 

The World Water Forum is organized by the World Water Council, a think tank dominated by private water corporations. Coke, which is facing growing international pressure for draining massive amounts of water from a number of Indian communities, was a sponsor of the Fourth World Water Forum.

Throughout the world, from Indian communities like Plachimada and Mehdiganj to Big Rapids, Michigan, bottled water corporations are threatening this fundamental human resource.

For example, Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) in Big Rapids, has battled and won a major court victory in 2003 shutting down a Nestlé well field that supplies water for its bottled water operation. The trial court found Nestlé's well field operation substantially harmed a stream, two lakes, and rich diverse wetlands. After lobbying the governor and state chamber of commerce to their side, Nestlé was able to appeal the ruling, and won temporary permission to pump out and bottle 218 gallons of water each minute. The citizens group is appealing the case to the Michigan Supreme Court to prevent a shift in water law that would favor privatization. 

According to Don Roy, political science professor and board member of MCWC, "Spring water mining and pumping operations are hugely profitable in a very thirsty world. The privatization and diversion of water are not meaningful remedies for the world's serious problems of pollution, and the water misusage grievously afflicting the poor." 

Resistance around the world is building. In Mehdiganj, India, where the operations of a Coke bottling plant have had terrible impact on local subsistence farmers, community leaders have launched a major, action pressuring Coke and Pepsi to stop exploiting people. In Plachimada, the Coke bottling facility has faced fierce resistance from the local community and has remained closed down since March 2004.

Across the United States community leaders like those in Big Rapids, Michigan, are organizing resistance to giant water bottlers. And consumers are beginning to “think outside the bottle” when it comes to water.

Patricia Lynn is Campaigns Director of Corporate Accountability International, formerly Infact. Corporate Accountability International is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. www.stopcorporateabuse.org