Walmart found to be sourcing bottled water from drought-stricken California

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Walmart found to be sourcing bottled water from drought-stricken California

Residents who have faced increased water use limits amid fourth year of drought push for greater regulation of water-bottling industry

Amanda Holpuch in New York
@holpuch
Monday 11 May 2015 13.19 EDT

Walmart is the latest company found to be sourcing its bottled water from drought-stricken California, as state residents push for greater regulation of the bottling industry.

Starbucks was moved to alter its bottling practices in California last week and Mount Shasta community members are fighting the opening of a major bottling plant by California-based company Crystal Geyser. Then on Friday, an investigation by CBS13 in Sacramento found that Walmart’s bottled water comes from the Sacramento municipal water supply.

The revelations come as state residents face increased water use limits during the fourth year of drought in the state. State governor Jerry Brown signed an executive order last week that calls for a 25% urban water reduction across the state.

“It’s only logical that as the governor has asked all Californians to reduce their water consumption that he holds extractive industries like bottled water companies to the same standard, yet he hasn’t asked anything of them,” said Adam Scow, the California director of Food & Water Watch, which is calling for a moratorium on bottling water.




Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/11/walmart-sourcing-bottled-water-california-drought

[Fla Dem]

1. Bottled water is the biggest scam. Most of it comes from municipal water supplies.

It makes much more sense to bottle your own water. A filtration system is relatively inexpensive if there is concern about the quality of the water. In the long run, if you use a reusable bottle and bottle your own water it's way less expensive. Plus all those empty bottles aren't in our land fills and along the roadways.

[Omaha Steve]

3. Perrier Recalls Its Water in U.S. After Benzene Is Found in Bottles (1990)

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/10/us/perrier-recalls-its-water-in-us-after-benzene-is-found-in-bottles.html

By GEORGE JAMES
Published: February 10, 1990

The company that made bottled mineral water chic is voluntarily recalling its entire inventory of Perrier from store shelves throughout the United States after tests showed the presence of the chemical benzene in a small sample of bottles.

The impurity was discovered in North Carolina by county officials who so prized the purity of Perrier that they used it as a standard in tests of other water supplies.

The Food and Drug Administration said it is testing supplies in California and other states. In a written statement issued last night, Ronald V. Davis, president of the Perrier Group of America Inc., said there was no significant health risk to the public. But the statement did not go into the details of the recall, how it would work, the number of bottles to be recalled and the impact on a company that has built its success on its product's image of purity and stylishness.

William M. Grigg, a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration, said his agency's Hazard Evaluation Board had collected samples of Perrier and found no immediate risk to the public from the benzene in the water.

FULL story at link.

[staggerleem]

6. Perrier is a division of Nestle.

The former CEO, and current Chairman, of Nestle, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, believes that water is NOT a human right, and should NEVER be publicly owned. He said as much, right out loud and in public, in an interview a couple of years ago. He has walked back the statement since, on advice from his PR people and the brands' lawyers, but I doubt that means that he's REALLY changed his mind on the subject. Nestle is ALSO bottling California's scarce water supply for fun and profit.

Nestle, in fact, owns SEVERAL popular brands of Water and Iced Tea (whose main ingredient is, obviously, water), as can be seen here: http://www.nestle-watersna.com/en/bottled-water-brands

I'm lucky enough to live on a part of New York State that gets NYC tap water - some of the world's best, as proven time and again in blind taste tests - so, in general, I do not buy bottled water. But on the rare occasion that I do, I try to make sure it's NOT a Nestle product!

[magical thyme]

15. Nestle owns Poland Springs, which is tap water from a neighboring town

to Poland, ME.

Reservoir tap water bottled up and sold as spring water.

[wordpix]

29. actually, Poland Spr. gets its sources from all over the place

A friend of mine has a spring and is thinking of selling his spring water. He learned this during his prelim. investigation---Poland Spr. could buy his water in CT. In this case, it's actually good spring water from a farm that doesn't have pollution sources surrounding it, but in other cases the sources may not be as pure.

[chapdrum]

16. Thanks for the reminder

that Nestle' (and predictably, now Walmart) are taking water from CA. Two of the biggest rogue corporations on the planet.
Apparently Nestle' pays the state the handsome sum of 65 cents for every 450 gallons it takes. Our politicians just can't help themselves from making these bandits even richer. If we're smart, we'll do as the wonderful Bush family did, and purchase an 18,000 acre property in Paraguay which sits atop a huge aquifer. No unseemly scrapping in the streets for water for them.

[staggerleem]

24. The problem here ...

... is that CA has not updated its Water Rights laws since around the time of the gold rush, and the laws concerning water and gold claims are essentially identical. Stake your claim and work it, and it belongs to you in perpetuity. Maybe that made sense 165 years ago - today, not so much!

[unblock]

4. yeah our house tested positive for radon so we got a whole-house water filter.

so, not only no radon problem but also great tasting water from every faucet!

iirc, the seller agreed to pay half the bill for installing it when we bought the house. now we only pay something like $125 every year or so to change out the filters.

[Fla Dem]

5. Glad it worked out for you. I know there are times bottled water is needed

like floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters, but to buy it for no good reason other than convenience is wasteful.

[erronis]

10. What does radon gas in the air have to do with your water?

Please let me know more details since I am in the same circumstances and I don't understand the science behind your claim.

Radon is a gas (quite heavy compared to air N, O2) and tends to accumulate in basements and other not-well ventilated lower spaces. Most radon treatments try to vent this gas to the outside. In our situation radon is produced by granite that is slowly "rotting". This would be on ledge that the house is built upon and also in wells.

However, AFAIK, radon does not dissolve in water and is not a hazard in that case. Of course, I Am Not A Certified Environmental Consultant (IANACEC) so don't take my word for this.

Also, I doubt that any normal commercial whole house filter does anything about radon. My limited chemistry and physics classes, as well as a bit of common sense, would argue against a commercial filter catching an atom like radon.

Are you sure you weren't sold a bill of goods?

[csziggy]

11. Radon can be dissolved in water from underground sources

Radon gas can also dissolve and accumulate in water from underground sources (called ground water), such as wells. When water that contains radon is used in the home for showering, washing dishes, and cooking, radon gas escapes from the water and goes into the air. It is similar to carbonated soda drinks where carbon dioxide is dissolved in the soda and is released when you open the bottle. Some radon also stays in the water.

<SNIP>

Why is radon in drinking water a health concern?
Breathing radon in indoor air can cause lung cancer. Radon gas decays into radioactive particles that can get trapped in your lungs when you breathe it. As they break down further, these particles release small bursts of energy. This can damage lung tissue and increase your chances of developing lung cancer over the course of your lifetime. People who smoke have an even greater risk. Not everyone exposed to high levels of radon will develop lung cancer. However, radon in indoor air is the second leading cause of lung cancer. About 20,000 deaths a year in the U.S. are caused by breathing radon in indoor air.

Only about 1-2 percent of radon in the air comes from drinking water. However breathing radon increases the risk of lung cancer over the course of your lifetime. Some radon stays in the water; drinking water containing radon also presents a risk of developing internal organ cancers, primarily stomach cancer. However this risk is smaller than the risk of developing lung cancer from radon released to air from tap water.

Based on a National Academy of Science report, EPA estimates that radon in drinking water causes about 168 cancer deaths per year: 89% from lung cancer caused by breathing radon released to the indoor air from water and 11% from stomach cancer caused by consuming water containing radon.
http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/radon/basicinformation.cfm

[erronis]

12. Thank you for following up and giving me better information.

I found the following also about removing radon from water (carbon granules or aeration.)

http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/private/wells/disease/radon.html

More things to take care of around this old house!

[unblock]

18. yes, csziggy's post was helpful. having a father who's a professor of nuclear physics was, also ;)

radon is indeed an atom but it is a very big one

radon in water also gets released in the air from physical agitation, so a shower is send more radon airborne than a gentle stream.

in any event, a whole house filter is a good thing even if it did nothing for radon abatement. water tastes better, many other contaminants are filtered out as well, and you don't have to think about which tap to get the good water from. also much more convenient to have the filter changed annually, and in a single location, than to have to get fresh filters all the time all over the house.

[sweetapogee]

17. most bacteria

most bacteria (fecal coliforms for example) will pass through most gravity fed filter systems. Test for coliforms (which are indicator bacteria) first but you will need a vacuum pump and filter system and agar plates.

[Fla Dem]

20. But isn't the water you get from the tap pretty safe to begin with? Nt

[sweetapogee]

22. it should be

I was responding to the idea of using a filter system mentioned in a previous post. They (filters) might do some good but they don't filter out most bacteria.

Bacteria a very small and can pass through most of those gravity feed filters. To test for indicators, you need a filter with holes soo small that you need to force the water molecules through under pressure (or vacuum). Then of course you incibate the filter on a medium and count the colonies.

[IcyPeas]

2. Crystal Geyser becomes latest water bottler to tap into California's unregulated groundwater

http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/b2414005240743ddb2751e56da5d9276/CA--California-Drought-Bottling-Water/

It is outrageous when they are telling all Californians to use less water!!

[marble falls]

7. Conscience. Something you won't find in any aisle at WalMart.

[The Jungle 1]

8. Why

You have to ask yourself what rocket man would build a water bottling plant in what is basically a desert.

[former9thward]

9. Sacramento is far from a desert.

[Throd]

19. Ain't a rain forest either.

I can see it from my house.

[LeftyMom]

21. Since I can walk to the plant from my house, I guess it falls on me to explain this:

There are two decent sized rivers running through this town, and the usual water problem is keeping it out of people's houses. This isn't a desert, it's only because of dams that it's not a swamp.

You can tell the older houses because they're the ones with the main door on the second story, the idea being in the dry months you could climb the steps and in the wet ones you could row to your door and tie your rowboat to your porch. We have entire neighborhoods that were founded with the idea that in the wet months the wealthy would move there to escape malaria closer to the river.

Even now, with flood control, the ACOE says that the #2 flood risk in the country, barely behind New Orleans, is the northern suburbs of Sacramento. The bottled water plant is on the SE end of town, which is higher and drier, but it's barely blocks away from undeveloped land that, even in this unprecedented situation, is dotted by vernal pools and roads rendered impassable by mud (I have an expensive recent tow bill to prove that one. Sigh.)

Anyway, I'll thank you not to refer to my home as a desert. Go look at a map.

[The Jungle 1]

25. Done did it. I checked out a map. I like maps.

Now just for reference I live in Pa. I would ask that you look at a map of Pa. Tell me if you see any large tan spots on the map. Sacramento is surrounded by huge tan sections on the earth view map. What is all that tan stuff? Is that desert? When I zoom in on the city there is green around the homes and businesses but everything else is tan.

Folsom lake is in real bad shape. Earth view clearly shows how low the lake is. Oroville is not looking to healthy either. The entire watershed is very border line considering the size of the population. Yet my understanding is the majority of water gets used to grow LAWN GRASS.

I would suggest you folks wake up and rethink some basic facts about your environment. If things continue the way they are going, you are a couple of years away from the map being all tan. What happens if you stop watering lawns, trees and gardens. They all turns tan. The rainfall you get is not keeping your city alive. You are living in a false, artificially created environment.


You are right on the edge of becoming a desert. What I wrote "basically a desert" stands.

[LeftyMom]

26. Okay, so the problem is that you don't know what a desert is.

This is a Mediterranean climate: it's generally cool (but above freezing) and rainy the winter and hot and dry in the summer, with a growing season that's nearly year round. Most of the native grasses go dormant in the summer.

There are genuine deserts within driving distance (Nevada is almost entirely high desert, and lovely in it's own way) so I know them well. This isn't one. Different vegetation, different animals, different climate.

In short, you don't know what you're talking about and you need to stop typing.

[The Jungle 1]

27. How long

So how many more years without rain until your state is a desert? Which is what I posted. I posted "basically a desert". Which most folks would agree acknowledges that you are not a desert yet. YET being the key word. You are very close. Present living conditions and water use in your state is unsustainable.

I think it has something to do with that whole climate change thing. Which I am guessing you don't believe.

No comment about how your watershed is almost empty but I should stop typing. Me I would be looking for a new home. Just like if I lived on the Jersey shore I would be looking to get out. Time to wake up.

[Binkie The Clown]

13. Don't tell Texas. Drinking Cal water make people liberal, doncha know. n/t

[DemoTex]

14. As is Starbucks' Ethos bottled water

MoJo busted them on that.

[awoke_in_2003]

23. As long as this country

considers drinking water a commodity and not a natural resource we all have a right to, we are all doomed.

[wordpix]

28. "bottled water comes from the Sacramento municipal water supply"

People, pls. stop buying bottled water. The chemicals can leach from the bottle into your water, you probably don't know where the water comes from, and these bottles are a scourge on the environment. Just filter your tap water and leave it uncovered in a pitcher for 8 hr. or so to de-gas the chlorine.