Bottled Water Giant Becomes Target

[NVMojo]

a tax on the water drawn from underground aquifers that don't replenish? Seems reasonable to me if they are making a profit out of it.

FRYEBURG, Maine (AP) -

In an environmentally conscious state with a lackluster economy, Poland Spring has been a decades-long delight: a nonpolluting industry that relies on a renewable resource to provide hundreds of good-paying jobs in small towns where they are often hard to come by.

The clear plastic bottle of spring water with the dark green label has become as much a part of Maine's image as a pair of L.L. Bean boots. The company's longtime slogan says it all: "Poland Spring. What it means to be from Maine."

But the love affair is showing signs of strain.

Poland Spring is a target of a statewide citizen initiative campaign to impose what is thought to be a first-in-the-nation tax on the water it draws from Maine's underground aquifers. At the same time, the company's expansion plans are running into local opposition from residents who are annoyed by tanker truck traffic and worry about their groundwater drying up.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/invest-corp/2005/nov/12/111203518.html

[Eugene]

1. Expansion? Ever since Nestlé took over, they have been drawing

too much water to be credibly called "spring".
How much more do they want to pump?

[alfredo]

3. People, you got to stand up to the water barons and speculators.

Whoever owns your water has your life in their hands.

[NVMojo]

4. very true statement ...and most will be surprised and won't know what

hit them once it's all privatized ...

[alfredo]

7. You can't vote Bechtel out of office.

Privatization turns us all into vassals to our corporate lords.

[JoFerret]

2. All power to the campaign

.

[Psephos]

5. No blood for water!! n/t

[Pharlo]

6. So, we have updated

the 19th century water rights wars to the 21st century.

LOL....Talk about cyclical history....

[dmr]

8. I won't buy bottled water, unless there is an emergency.

These companys are making a mint at a tremedous expense to all of us. You just can't take the amount of water the private companies are removing and expect it to automatically replenish itself, that just doesn't happen.

Funny how we all have been convinced to drink bottled water. That's the power of advertising. I grew up healthy on Michigan tap water.

Here's a good website to check out:
http://www.worldwaterwars.com/index.htm

[JoFerret]

9. Never, ever, buy bottled water

...unless absolutely necessary.

[BJW]

10. Agreed--Bottled Water Factory Story

I knew a guy whose Dad owned a bottled water factory. This guy worked for his Dad, and his Dad hired his high school buddies. These guys used to spit and pee in the water--just for fun.

Something to think about.

[pushycat]

16. Say it ain't so. I don't usually buy it, but if I do I check to see where

the water comes from off the label. There are certain areas of the country I try to avoid, but you just tore that myth up for me. geesh

[Psephos]

11. I'm with you; Michigan tap is excellent

At least it is here in the mid-state, where it all comes out of glacial gravel aquifers.

Thanks for the great link.

Peace

[Xithras]

21. Depends on where you live.

Around here, the tap water contains everything from uranium, mercury, and selenium to agricultural pesticides and fertilizers...and that's after they filter the REALLY nasty stuff out and chlorinate it until it stinks.

There's a reason that the California Central Valley has cancer and birth defect rates that are far above average in many areas, and that reason isn't just the crappy air quality.

I spent several thousand dollars on a whole house water filtration system for my home just to take all of that crap out, and I lug along water bottles filled at home whenever I know I'm going to be out. When I don't have one and need a drink, bottled water (or a bottled juice or soda) are my only options.

[conflictgirl]

22. Yes, and up here in central Michigan, the water tastes like chlorine

Sometimes when running a bath for my kids, the tub smells like a swimming pool. :( I keep saying that I want to get the filters for the tub faucet...I really should. I definitely want to get a whole house filtration system when I have the money.

We have a filter on our kitchen faucet and we fill water bottles at home. There is a higher cancer rate around here too. Dow Chemical HQ is in our community, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. At least around here, I definitely will not drink water from the tap.

[Xithras]

29. The whole Central Valley sits at the bottom of a pollution well.

Our pollution is a mix of natural and man made problems, and aren't easily fixed. Some of the pollution, like the Uranium, comes from the fact that the entire valley is a giant alluvial plain for the Sierras that's been collecting radioactive granite for millions of years. We pull our water from wells deep in the granite sandstone below us, and it comes up with uranium levels that barely miss EPA exposure limits.

Then we have the mining pollution from the 1800's. Mercury and other nasty chemicals were used to separate the gold from the rock, and those chemicals have spent the last century migrating downslope into our water tables. On top of that, our perfectly flat terrain means that our water tables have no real current, so all of the chemicals that leached down into the soil during 80 years of "modern" petro-farming are still there.

The pollution is so bad that nearby Modesto has been forced to shut down nearly a quarter of its wells because they couldn't get the EPA to look the other way any longer. They're also having a big flap right now because some developer built a huge subdivision, and the well they sunk for it is just pumping mucky, massively polluted sludge...and none of the people who bought there are being allowed to move into their homes until the developer builds a new water treatment plant for the homes next year.

The water here is nasty, and very few people who can afford bottled water don't use it. Heck, my offices are 100% bottled water based because NOBODY here wants to drink the unfiltered stuff that comes out of the faucet.

It's funny though. Our local governments do their best to keep this stuff buried and out of the press because they're owned by the developers. The developers don't want this to be well known, because nobody is going to spend $450,000 on a new house if the tap water is going to kill their kids. They don't warn the people moving in here, so most of them drink the tap water for years before learning about what's really in their drinking glasses.

[nodehopper]

24. I don't think tap water is unhealthy

but depending on where I live, sometimes I can't stand the taste. I am very sensitive to water tastes, like I can distiguish between different bottled water brands, and if I can't stand the taste I end up buying Poland Springs because otherwise I just don't drink enough water. I think it's fair to tax them, though.

I wish I lived somewhere near a spring where I could just get my own water.

[Solon]

12. Is it just me...

Or does the idea of bottled water in 16 oz bottles seem like simply a scam? I mean, who the hell actually believes this water is better than water I ALREADY PAY FOR coming out of the tap? And why the hell do they charge over a dollar for it? I say throw all the people who thought of this "idea" in jail on RICO charges of defrauding the public on a massive scale.

[MaineDem]

13. And the people near their wells already drink it from the tap

In fact, they flush their toilets with it! Seriously, the aquifers from which Nestle pumps in Maine are already public water supplies so the locals are using that same water every day.

Which creates one of the conflicts. Why should the local people pay for the water and Nestle get it for free and also threaten the supply?

[thebigidea]

14. "who the hell actually believes this water is better than..."

uh, anyone that lives in an area with lousy, brackish, nasty tapwater. Its highly variable across the country, you know - bottled water isn't just some elitist scam to bilk people, despite the shitty behavior of some companies.

[WyLoochka]

15. Water in Phoenix area is

awful. I filter my own.

[nodehopper]

25. word. exactly.

[No Exit]

17. It's not just you. I don't buy bottled water unless there's a hurricane

coming and I don't have time to stand around filling up empty gallon jugs with tap water.

[shantipriya]

18. Poland Spring

Most tap water in the US and all western countries is equal if not better than most bottled waters. I cannot understand the ceaze behind drinking bottled water. I think it is like status symbol and also because people can afford it.

[nodehopper]

26. what if you hate the taste?

what if the tap water in your area smells like chlorine? What if your area has shitty tap water with chemical residue?

Tap water in Western countries is safer than in third world countries because you are not going to get amoebas and diahrria from it. But just because it does not have the same biological agents, doesn't mean that it's pure from all kind of chemical crap.

[Sven77]

19. they fluoridate the water

i stay away from poland spring, appalaachian is the best but also the most expensive.

http://fluoridealert.org

[Squatch]

23. So do most municipalities

[raccoon]

20. I don't like the idea of companies selling bottled water, never

did and never will.

I don't buy it. I feel that my city water is safe, but when I was living in an older house with rusty pipes I got into the habit of running all my drinking/cooking water through a filter, and I still do.

[Indy Lurker]

27. Water is Water

Good old H2O.

Most bottled water producers filter it down to pure H2O, using charcoal,reverse osmosis, and de-ionizers. Once the water has been stripped down to H2O, minerals are added back to to give each brand it's own unique flavor.

Most bottled water companies also get their water straight from the city supply.

Yep, most bottled water (Aquafina, Desanti) is city tap water.

If the bottle says spring water, then it's noty from the city tap, but it goes through the same process.

[MaineDem]

28. Poland Spring says theirs is pure spring water

It is not filtered.

I don't usually defend Nestle but I'm pretty sure it's not treated.

[Xithras]

30. It's all filtered.

There are very few places on the planet where the water is so pure that it doesn't need any kind of treatment, and Maine...being downwind of several major pollution sources when the air is flowing the wrong way... isn't likely to have any of these perfectly pure sources. Besides, for liability reasons alone they'll sterilize the water. One E. Coli infection and they're out of business.