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As a health drink, bottled water is all wet
The triumph of marketing finally gets the scrutiny it deserves.
Tom Standage, Los Angeles Times
In 1783, george Washington visited the natural springs of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Along with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, he took a keen interest in the supposed medicinal qualities of mineral water, a subject of much scientific research at the time. The following year, a friend wrote to him to describe the difficulty of bottling the strongly effervescent Saratoga water. “Several persons told us that they had corked it tight in bottles, and that the bottles broke,” wrote Washington’s friend. The birth of the United States thus coincided with the origins of bottled water.
The business of bottling water really got going in the 1790s in Switzerland, where doctors acclaimed the medicinal benefits of the artificially carbonated water sold by Nicholas Paul and Jacob Schweppe. The pair began exporting their bottled soda water in 1800, and such was its popularity in London that Benjamin Silliman, a visiting American chemistry professor, decided to set up his own soda-water venture in the United States. Others soon followed suit, and bottled water became a popular health drink.
But bottled water’s mass appeal really began in the U.S. with the marketing of Perrier, imported from France, during the 1970s. The industry has not looked back since.
In recent years, though, sparkling water has been eclipsed by still water in popularity. Last year, sales of bottled water in the United States reached $11 billion. Globally, the figure may be as high as $100 billion annually.
Go into a restaurant or a supermarket and you will be offered water from all over the planet. The idea that bottled water from particular places is good for you has persisted since Washington’s time, though today it is not statesmen but supermodels, rock stars and actors who set the trend with their preferences.
Bottled water may look and taste pure enough, but the whole idea stinks. For a start, bottled water is indistinguishable from tap water.
(7 August 2007)
Related:
Giving Bottles a Second Life (NY Times editorial)
Why drink water for free when you can pay $3M (NY Daily News investigation into city workers getting bottled water perk)
Queensland may continue outdoor watering
AAP/The West Australian
South-east Queensland residents may be spared a total ban on outdoor watering under tough level six water restrictions expected to come into force later this year.
However, the state government has vowed to crack down on businesses using too much water as the drought continues to bite. ..
The proportion of the region’s water used by residents has dropped from 70 to 66 per cent, with the rest going to business, government and power stations. Current level five restrictions are set to be ramped up to the next level when the region’s dams fall to 15 per cent capacity, forecast to occur in September or October this year.
“We expect to be closer to an average of 130 litres per person per day than (the initial) 140 target if the people of south-east Queensland maintain the savings they have already made,” Ms Nosworthy said. “We are now thinking about what that means for level six – one of the things we are reviewing is our original proposal to impose a total ban on outdoor water use.” ..
(3 Aug 2007)
