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Lawmakers open groundwater fight against bottled water companies:
Washington state, land of sprawling rainforests and glacier-fed rivers, might soon become the first in the nation to ban water bottling companies from tapping spring-fed sources.
The proposal is one of several efforts at the state and local level to fend off the fast-growing bottled water industry and protect local groundwater. Local activists throughout the country say bottling companies are taking their water virtually for free, depleting springs and aquifers, then packaging it in plastic bottles and shipping it elsewhere for sale.
"I was literally beyond shocked," said Washington state Sen. Reuven Carlyle, who sponsored the bill to ban bottling companies from extracting groundwater. It was advanced by a Senate committee last week.
"I was jolted to the core to realize the depth and breadth and magnitude of how they have lawyered up in these small towns to take advantage of water rights," the Democrat said. "The fact that we have incredibly loose, if virtually nonexistent, policy guidelines around this is shocking and a categorical failure."
Elsewhere, lawmakers in Michigan and Maine also have filed bills to restrict the bottling of groundwater or tax the industry. Local ballot measures have passed in Oregon and Montana to restrict the industry, though in Montana, Flathead County's zoning change remains tied up in court.
"The Washington state bill is groundbreaking," said Mary Grant, a water policy specialist with the environmental group Food and Water Watch. "As water scarcity is becoming a deeper crisis, you want to protect your local water supply so it goes for local purposes. (Bottled water) is not an industry that needs to exist."
Though much of the controversy around the bottled water industry has concerned "bottled at the source" spring water sites, nearly two-thirds of the bottled water sold in the United States comes from municipal tap water, according to Food and Water Watch. The Washington state legislation would not keep companies from buying and reselling tap water.
Americans consumed nearly 14 billion gallons of bottled water in 2018, while sales reached $19 billion—more than doubling the industry's size in 2004. The bottled water industry is expected to grow to more than $24 billion in the next three years, according to Beverage Industry magazine.
Industry leaders have opposed sweeping legislation that would cut off resources, pointing out the potential hit to local employment and the importance of bottled water in disaster relief.
"This legislation would prevent any community from having these jobs or having a project in their area," said Brad Boswell, executive director of the Washington Beverage Association, who testified against the bill. "We think these issues are best dealt with on a project-by-project basis."
The International Bottled Water Association defended the track record of its members in an emailed statement. The bill in Washington and other legislation to limit the industry "are based on the false premise that the bottled water industry is harming the environment," wrote Jill Culora, the group's vice president of communications.
"All IBWA members," she wrote, "are good stewards of the environment. When a bottled water company decides to build a plant, it looks for a long-term, sustainable source of water and the ability to protect the land and environment around the source and bottling facility."
Culora did not address specific examples of community claims that bottling companies have damaged their watersheds and aquifers.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 19 2020, @03:18PM (5 children)
Actually, I have drunk "that crap". Five years of sea duty ensures that you're going to drink it, and probably sooner than later.
When a ship gets underway, there are no tens of thousands of gallon water tanks to top off. We make our own water, constantly. Two big evaporators pulled water from the sea, producing quite a lot of water.
Of course, the Navy has it's priorities. The boilers get all the water they could ever want, or need. Then, the galley gets water. Then, the dispensary. And, finally, the crew gets whatever is left - if any. Fresh water showers, drinking fountains, laundry, etc. On days when one of the evaps might be down for maintenance, the other evap doesn't keep up very well, so you go to "water hours". That is, no laundry outside of designated hours. Or showers. Or even drinking water if it gets that bad.
And, that water was always just as pure as pure can be. It's tasteless, but it's damned good water. People who are accustomed to pollutants in their water may not like desalinated water, but I'm fine with it. People pay a lot for water softening treatments, but desalinated water needs none of that.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday February 19 2020, @03:46PM (4 children)
So that would produce very pure water. Perfectly usable for all the other things you mention - cooking, cleaning and so forth. No problem. Safe to drink too, not life threatening. But as you say, completely bland and tasteless. If you're on a ship it makes sense, but if you're a restaurant and you serve water like that you're pushing your customers to order corn syrup or alcohol instead.
And this is NOT the process typically used to treat municipal water. It's far more energy intensive - which is fine on a navy ship but not so great in a municipal setting. Instead you have systems that look something like this: https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_treatment.html
That system produces large amounts of 'safe' water, perfectly good for cooking and cleaning and irrigation but not very pleasant to drink. It does it very efficiently as well. The result is perfectly good to cover the vast majority of water usage. So instead of importing relatively small amounts of water for drinking, at relatively low prices, you want to mandate that the entire system be rebuilt, at great cost, into a system that will be far more expensive to run going forward, just to produce tasteless water that many people *still* won't really want to drink to cover that last 2% of usage?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1) by Myfyr on Wednesday February 19 2020, @03:59PM (2 children)
Around these parts, desalination makes up nearly half of our drinking water supply. It absolutely works, it tastes fine, and we'll likely need more of the same in the future. Without it we'd be completely screwed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Seawater_Desalination_Plant [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday February 19 2020, @04:19PM (1 child)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Wednesday February 19 2020, @10:51PM
Bottled water is somewhat of an affectation, people drink it because they are conditioned (marketed? brainwashed?) into believing it is safer and superior to their local tap water. Maybe that is true for a few places, but most places I have lived have perfectly fine tap water. My current city even bottled and sold their water for a while (they may even still do so). If you are buying bottled water in plastic bottles as your primary drinking source over your local tap water, you are probably drinking water more contaminated than what usually comes out of your tap.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 19 2020, @04:15PM
I'll just point out that water sustains life. Most of the crap in flavored sugar water tends to shorten life. But, to each his own, right? We all have the right to choose our own poisons, then pay for the cures for those poisons in later life. Except, I don't think there is a cure yet for diabetes.
If it's good enough for Myfyr, it should be good enough for anyone! ;^)