Bottled Water
Within the body of this excellent report there is little discussion of the place of bottled water in relation to water and food security. Undoubtedly in relation to disaster relief bottled water has an important role to play. However, in more general terms it can play little part in the development of a secure and sustainable potable water scenario. In ecological terms it is wasteful of resources both for bottling and containers and in relation to transportation and recycling. In economic terms it is also much more expensive than sources of municipal water and plays an increasingly significant role in diverting scarce resources from the public to the private sectors. In 2013 the global bottled water market was estimated as worth £25bn and in the UK £2bn. In both cases these figures are on an upward trajectory.
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There is considerable debate about the relative qualities of tap water and bottled water. In repeated controlled tests it is shown that people find it very difficult to differentiate the taste and quality of bottled and tap water. Within this ambivalence there remains uncertainty about the macro-biological security of bottled water over long periods of storage and in regard of the leakage of contaminants from the bottles or rigid storage containers.
There are also national, regional and global concerns over the regulatory procedures surrounding bottled water. Whilst public water is very meticulously tested and regulated the procedures concerning bottled water are much more ‘light touch’ and largely rely on the commercial providers to undertake testing and to make returns.
Finally, in areas of low resources and high water insecurity water harvesting by private companies can make significant inroads into supplies of ground water. This can generate situations of water capture and the reallocation of water resources on commercial grounds.
For all of these reasons it would seem warranted to spend a little time within this HLPE report exploring the commercial, regulatory and governance contexts of the bottled water industry.
Ian Hextall (WaterAid Volunteer) (Research Fellow Goldsmiths’, University of London)
Ian Hextall