Boycott Bottled Water

Food and Water Watch is calling for a boycott of bottled water.

Take the pledge to:

- End your daily use of bottled water
- Fill a reusable bottle with tap water
- Support programs to ensure access to clean, affordable, public tap water for all

I have to tell you, I hate bottled water. I guess it is because I see it as a symbol of our economic disparity (not everyone can afford imported water but it is a status symbol), gullibility (we actually believe it's better for us. Why? Because the Evian commercial told us so), bad resource management (let's let Coca-cola steal the water out of our aquifiers, deplete our groundwater, or use our subsidized munipical water and then sell it back to us at an incredible premium) and sheer destructive power (when we consume bottled water we are really consuming petroleum: millions of gallons of oil are used for plastic bottles, not to mention transporting all that water in trucks instead of pipes).

Casting doubt on the safety of our public water systems has been one of the greatest marketing coups of all time.

The truth is:

Bottled water (in almost all North American municipalities) is not safer or healthier
Bottled water is bad for the environment
Bottled water is a waste of money
Bottle water worsens inequality (If those with money and power aren't drinking tap water, they also won't be fighting for tap water, and everyone else has to suffer with worsening water quality)

Stop the commodification of water; boycott Evian, Dasani (coca-cola), Nestle, Aquafina (pepsi), and all others who are stealing the water that is part of the earth's bounty. Ensure clean drinking water for everyone. You'll probably save money too.

More on water:

• The Real Cost of Bottled Water
  
• Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis
  
• Water Privatisation And Water Wars
  
• Water Privatization in South Africa