- GENEVA (Reuters) - Drinkers
of expensive bottled mineral water may be simply pouring their money down
the drain as tap water in most developed countries is likely to be just
as good, according to a study issued on Thursday.
-
- Conservationist group WWF International, which commissioned
the report, said consumers of bottled water would not only benefit their
wallets by turning on the tap when they wanted a drink, they would also
help the environment.
-
- "Bottled water may be no safer, or healthier, than
tap water in many countries, while selling for up to 1,000 times the price,"
the Swiss-based World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said.
-
- The bottled water industry is worth some $22 billion
a year yet in many cases the only difference is that the water comes in
a fancy bottle rather than through a pipe, the WWF said.
-
- "In fact, there are more standards regulating tap
water in Europe and the United States than those applied to the bottled
water industry," it added.
-
- A spokesman for foods multinational Nestle, the world's
largest producer of bottled water, said he could not comment on the report
because he had not seen it.
-
- MATTER OF TASTE
-
- Nevertheless, the WWF acknowledged that piped water suppliers
in some rich countries could do more to improve the taste of their water,
which was often cited by consumers as one reason for opting for the bottled
variety.
-
- The study -- "Bottled Water: Understanding a Social
Phenomenon" -- was commissioned by the WWF from Geneva University
researcher Catherine Ferrier as part of its campaign to improve drinking
water standards worldwide.
-
- It draws on published research, including studies done
by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
-
- Biksham Gujja, head of the WWF's Freshwater campaign,
told Reuters that the environmentalist group was considering launching
a public awareness drive in selected European countries to draw attention
to the issue.
-
- He said that Switzerland could be a place to start. "The
water here is fine to drink," he said.
-
- Apart from the cost question, the WWF said that it was
concerned at the impact on the environment.
-
- The group said that some 1.5 million tons of plastic
was used every year by the bottled water industry, with the toxic chemical
involved posing a threat to the environment at both the manufacturing and
the disposal stage.
-
- Furthermore, as around a quarter of the 90 billion liters
of bottled water drunk each year was consumed outside the country of origin,
the transport involved added significantly to green- house gas emissions,
according to WWF.
-
- The issue in many developing countries was different,
Gujja said, with tap water there often not meeting necessary health standards.
-
- But if the richer sector of the population in the developing
world simply opted for bottled water, this would just ease the political
pressure on local authorities to improve the quality of water supplies,
he added.
-
- "Bottled water isn't a long term sustainable solution
to securing access to healthy water," said another WWF official, Richard
Holland.
-
-
-
- MainPage
http://www.rense.com
-
-
-
- This
Site Served by TheHostPros
|