Plastic bottles outside a house in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Everyone has purchased a bottle of water in their lifetime. Whether you buy it because you think it tastes better, it is cleaner, or you live in a place where you don’t have access to clean tap water, buying bottled water is a common practice for many people. Over the last decade bottled water consumption has increased in every region of the world, making the bottled water industry one of the world’s fastest growing. In 2006, the global bottled water industry was valued at over $60 billion; market researchers predict this figure will increase to $86 billion by 2011.
Four multi-national corporate giants control 33 percent of the global bottled water market: Nestlé, Danone, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Together, they produce hundreds of brands of bottled water. From the brand Kilimanjaro, sourced from the mountain glaciers in Tanzania, to the Andean water in bottles labeled Vital in Bolivia, the water is sourced, packaged, and sold by major bottled water and beverage companies whose name brands can usually be found in small unreadable print hidden somewhere on the bottle.

The Water in the Bottle
So, where do these companies get pristine water to put in their bottles? In most cases they get it from your public water supply, for a very low price and often for free. After extracting water from local aquifers and streams, companies bottle the water in non-biodegradable plastic bottles, slap on different bottled water brand labels and sell the water back to the public for up to 10,000 times the cost per gallon of tap water.

The process of bottling water leaves a heavy footprint on the environment, society, and people’s pocketbooks. According to the Pacific Institute, it takes 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water. In addition, plastic bottles are highly energy intensive. In 2006, 17 million barrels of oil were used to produce the 29 billion plastic bottles of water consumed by in US. That same year, US citizens spent $11 billion on bottled water. Unfortunately for most people living in poor countries, buying bottled water is not an option due to financial constraints. In Bolivia, Latin America’s poorest country, the average price for a liter of bottled water is $.50. One third of the Bolivian population does not have access to water and must buy bottled water whenever possible. But, over 42 percent of the population lives on less than one dollar a day, making bottled water is simply unaffordable.

Corporate Control over Water
Bottled water company’s avaricious and damaging practices have created controversy all over the globe. In 2001, Nestle, the largest bottled water company in the US opened a bottling plant in Stanwood, Michigan designed to pump over 210 million gallons of spring water per year from local aquifers and streams. The plant was licensed for a mere one hundred dollars a year, and Nestle was not required to pay for the water it extracted. The plant caused degradation to local water supplies, and left the community in outrage. A local citizen’s group sued Nestle in an attempt to take back control over their water and prevent further despoliation of the community’s water resources. The suit remains unresolved and Nestle continues to bottle water from the community without paying for the water they consume.

The people of California won a huge victory in August of this year against Nestle and their plans to build the largest bottled water plant in the US on the banks of the McCloud River near Mount Shasta. Nestle failed to consider the negative impacts of the proposed plant on local springs and groundwater supplies, which lead California Attorney General Jerry Brown to threaten to sue the bottled water company. Nestle was forced to cancel the project.

Similar lawsuits against bottled water companies have been filed in Texas, Wisconsin, Maine, and in Brazil. Communities in India, Mexico, and Columbia have organized boycotts against Coca-Cola in response to the beverage company’s disregard for the environment, human health, and human rights. Protests across the US against Pepsi Co. for its fraudulent labeling of Aquafina water, forced Pepsi to admit that they were selling consumers tap water in Aquafina bottles. Increasing public concern about corporations buying, selling, and ultimately controlling water sources has created a global voice against the commodification of water by multinational beverage companies; the voice is rapidly growing louder and more powerful.

Water and Profits
As water becomes scarcer, bottled water companies will have greater incentive to sell more bottled water to consumers at a higher price. With billions of dollars to gain in profits, the bottled water industry is not going to give communities back their water without a fight. They have built alliances with each other and governments through the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) – a trade association of companies in the bottled water industry. On September 1st of this year, Nestle Waters, Danone, and Highland Spring launched the Natural Hydration Council. The Council, based in the UK, is designed to lobby on behalf of the bottled water industry and promote bottled water to the public. This organization is recruiting companies all over the world to join them in the pursuit to control and sell the world’s water to global citizens. Their intentions are completely non-transparent. Only members who apply and are approved by the Council have access to information about the Council’s members and activities.

Companies such as Nestle and Coca-Cola hold an immense amount of power in the world economy. They have infinite financial resources and allies in every corner of earth. They have multi-billion dollar advertising campaigns focused purely on making people think they need to buy bottled water because it is better, safer, and more appealing than tap water. But as giant corporations close in on the world’s water and claim it as their own, the ability for communities and individuals to make consumer choices about their water quickly diminishes. We will be forced to buy Pepsi’s tap water in Aquafina bottles. We will have to live next door to the polluted streams, contaminated by the local Nestle bottling plant. And we will have failed to protect the life breathing liquid for all living things on earth that cannot afford to buy bottled water. Every time you buy a bottle of water, you send a message to corporations, government officials, and other citizens that it is ok to make a profit off selling public water to people at the expense of the environment, the poor and yourself.

Hugo Chavez urged Evo Morales to keep fighting and condemned the right-wing prompted coup in Bolivia, stating, “Resist, Evo ! We are with you!”

People are dying in Bolivia in what is a struggle for power over resources, and in the end, profits. Historically, the non-indigenous elite in Bolivia has controlled natural gas operations and revenues. When Evo was elected, he promised to rewrite the constitution and install policies that would feed revenues back into the country. Nationalizing various resource sectors was a cornerstone in his campaign. From my experience in Bolivia, supporters feel that Evo’s administration is far from perfect. However, Evo’s indigenous identity and socialist policies act as a glimmer of hope for the majority of citizens (many indigenous) that live in Latin America’s poorest country. I believe that Evo represents a paradigm shift currently taking place in many Latin American countries. The elite in Bolivia as well as the United States perceive this shift as a threat. In their minds, it will take control away from multinational corporations, international financial institutions, and the Bolivian citizens who make a financial killing from selling Bolivian land, labor, and the environment on the cheap. If indeed a coup in Bolivia is successful, the US will surely be one of the biggest benefactors. For the Bolivian people, on the other hand, a coup will ensure that the current cycle of poverty persists. US citizens often fail to recognize the direct connection between the two countries. By supporting US policies in Bolivia that ensure the status quo, individuals directly benefit from Bolivian citizens living without adequate food supplies, access to education, health, water and other basic services. Although Bolivia seems a world apart from our lives in what is the richest nation in the world, it is closer than we think. Our policies and subsequent profits from Bolivia’s resources directly affect the lives of Bolivian people.