At the 2009 Net Impact Conference, Adam Werbach called Fiji Water a “Dead Man Walking,” stating that the company has greenwashed its brand and that it was only a matter of time before its actions caught up with the company (read a NY times article on Fiji here). While Werbach was referring to the way that Fiji Water was portraying its brand, he also broadly implied that the business of shipping water around the world is simply unsustainable. This brought up a lot of questions about the “health” of the bottled water industry in general.
Read more:
http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/11/is-bottled-water-a-dead-man-walking/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TriplePundit+%28Triple+Pundit
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The concept of returning to the tap for our drinking water is a noble one, but not something feasible in the near future for two simple reasons.
1. The age and condition of the public water distribution systems
2. The majority of our municipal water processing facilities were and are still designed to eradicate pathogens such as those found in third world environs. They were not designed to remove contaminants from first world societies' waste including industrial solvents, pesticides and pharmaceuticals
The more we learn about the potential threats posed by man made contaminants, the more we discover what we don't know.
I have spoken to microbiologists researching this issue and trying to come up with educated and reasonable recommendations regarding the levels of exposure that are safe for the general populous. The fact is the type of research necessary to make sound scientific recommendations takes controlled variable studies of 10 -15 years.
By the time we have the results, millions of people will have experienced long term exposure to any number of toxic cocktails of the above mentioned ingredients; compliments of our local water company via our home faucets.
The only prudent course of action is to insure the quality of our drinking water at the point of dispense and consumption, not at the source of municipal distribution.
Many companies, including ours, are coming up with solutions that address this issue without relying on the throw away plastic bottle.
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