Stock up on bottled water and drain the supply more quickly
Creative Loafing has an interesting spin on people that are starting to stockpile water — they might be contributing to the water problem.
It’s a relatively low number, but Coca-Cola’s Dasani bottling plant in Marietta uses better than 8 million gallons of water per month, all which comes from Lake Allatoona. As Thomas Wheatley, the author of the article, told me — “I wrote about the sheer irony that if we ran out of water, we’d be drinking just preserved stuff of what we watched dwindle away.”
The article also gets into the crazy pricing system for water (the more they use, the less they pay), but also talks about how Coca-Cola has made strides in the last few years to cut back. It’s a good read.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:56 am
“…That’s a huge improvement from the same month last year, when it gulped 9.8 million gallons, and a far cry from the Pepsi Gatorade plant in southwest Atlanta – the city’s biggest water user – which gobbled up 70.8 million gallons in September alone. ”
There’s a Pepsi plant in Atlanta? And it used 70.8 million gallons of water in September?
December 14th, 2007 at 10:36 am
“If people in Atlanta knew that they need to go to the store to buy bottled water because they’re asked to conserve, and find out they’re buying [municipal water] that’s bottled in a Marietta plant …” says Gigi Kellett of Corporate Accountability International, a big-business watchdog group. “And then these corporations are turning around and selling it to these individuals when they’re taking it directly from their source.”
Anyone who believes they are contributing to the conservation effort by buying bottled water instead of drinking tap water deserves to get gouged for a couple of dollars a bottle. I think they call that the “stupid” tax. lol.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:44 am
I thought that article was hilarious. Are people really drinking bottled water to save the municipal water? Wow. Does anybody know who provided that helpful water-saving tip? I suppose if you are used to not giving a damn about where your resources then it makes perfect sense — there’s a great quote, “Resources are like air, of no importance until you’re not getting any.”
On the topic of bottled water, from this link
“The average price of a bottle of water is $1.09, making a gallon of water cost $6.03.”
That means that the price of a gallon of Coca-Cola or Pepsi brand water is more than the cost of a gallon of gasoline. There’s something fundamentally wrong there. Capitalism at it’s finest: people will sell you salty municipal water in a disposable plastic bottle that you throw into a landfill or use more energy to recycle, for more than the cost of a gasoline, a non-renewable resource a majority of which we have to import.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Andrew S.: Writer of the article here, and I just wanted to clarify some things for you. The state and City of Atlanta has not, to my recollection, asked residents to go out and buy bottled water to help conserve. If I conveyed that, I apologize and didn’t mean to. What I wrote in the article was saying that if Georgia does start to run low, we’d see bottled water sell out quick. There have been reports of people stocking up, though nothing like widespread hysteria, and most of the suppliers I’ve spoken with who have reported increased orders rely on groundwater sources for their products.
Also, thanks for your kind comments. The bottled water industry is a fascinating topic and I encourage you to check out some of the research conducted by the organizations I mentioned in the article. The Pacific Institute has some interesting research as well.
December 14th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Hi Thomas. Thanks for your input and I enjoyed the article. I was pretty sure it wasn’t any official agency that recommended that, but I was just curious to find out where the idea came from. Contrary to widespread hysteria, a large number of people I talk to don’t seem to believe that there is a crisis at all, but I suppose they wouldn’t until the taps dry up (see my earlier comment about resources).
December 14th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Andrew: I agree. Reports have flip-flopped from Atlanta having anywhere from 90-500 days of water left. The state has most recently said that we’re not in any danger of running out. You’re right, though, regarding resources.
Come to think of it, you might live in Atlanta and know this already! I’ll shut up now. But again, thanks for your input. Take care.
December 15th, 2007 at 1:00 am
Thomas Wheatley - You write that the Atlanta tap water is “filtered, purified, treated” by Coca Cola before it becomes Dasani, but you don’t write why any of those three steps are needed. The regulatory health standards for bottled water are very much weaker than for tap water. Is it needed because Atlanta’s water supply is substandard, or is Coca Cola using a different water tap, or cleanliness of the bottling plant, or? Any ideas?
There is a comparative chart (Figure 6) of tap vs bottled water health standards on this webpage -
http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/chap4.asp
December 15th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Notanumber - All good questions, and I couldn’t flesh all of them out in the article because I had limited space. Hence one of the great things about the Internet — you can write as much as people are willing to read.
Dasani’s multi-step purification process is one they employ in every plant and is what allows them to label the water as “purified.” They’re essentially scrubbing already clean water. Whereas in some markets this may be necessary, by and large, water in the United States is clean to drink. Dasani is providing the convenience of portable, clean(er) water. As I wrote in the article, it’s a marketing success story and a brilliant business strategy. The municipality provides the infrastructure and the resources are inexpensive.
The bottled water vs. tap water debate is a murky one, because you’re going to find different takes on it in different parts of the country, where water quality may vary. By and large, though, tap water is overwhelmingly safe to drink. Also, many bottled water industry folks I spoke with said that they’re not trying to get people to stop drinking tap water — they said their main competitors are soft drinks. Tap water (municipal water) is monitored by the state EPD, tested daily, and scanned for a variety of bacteria. Because bottled water is considered a “food product,” it is monitored and tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). From reports I’ve read, they test once a year and for fewer bacteria and diseases than the EPD. Municipal water providers are required to provide a Consumer Confidence Report that outlines breakdowns in quality during the past year. If bottled water has a contamination outbreak — as what famously happened in the UK with Dasani — you most likely won’t hear about it until there’s a recall. Bottled water critics say you also are at risk for possible breakdowns with the plastic when it comes to bottled water.
What’s interesting about the Marietta Dasani facility is that it uses municipal water which has already been treated, and is then filtered using what is considered a very thorough purification process. So is it double clean? I don’t know. I did not have the resources to conduct tests on water samples.
Take care and let me know if I can answer any more questions for you. I appreciate all the debate.
December 15th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Why are these plants still operating, Dasani water bottled in atlanta is being shipped all over the south. I’m in New Orleans and can buy water bottled in atlanta. Coke pepsi and these other companies should come to New Orleans where we get our water from the Mississippi River. If we run out of water the entire country is going to be in trouble.
December 15th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Thomas Wheatley - “The bottled water vs. tap water debate is a murky one, because you’re going to find different takes on it in different parts of the country, where water quality may vary.”
Don’t you think the “murky”ness is really as a result of advertising/marketing? After all what municpalities fail to meet the required standards (except at time of a diaster such as a flood or landslide)? Please take a look at the standards do you really think that Dasani is “clean(er)”? If it is, it would seem like Coca Cola would advertise that their product exceeds the highest FDA standards for drinking water. Instead they participate in lobbying efforts to retain or weaken current bottled water standards.
In the table of comparative standards tap water standards exceeded or equaled bottle standards about 99% of the time. Disgustingly, bottled water standards allow for viruses and bacteria (e. coli), that tap water standards completely prohibit.
December 15th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
As a resident in the UK I read that Dasani was rejected by the authorities here as they (the authorities) contended (as I recall it) that the purification process actually introduced pollutants rather than purified the already purified tap water. I think they said that these pollutants could cause cancer.
The story started that Coca Cola were marketing the water as spring water, but it was from “the tap waters of Sidcup”. So much ridicule was poured on coca cola they withdrew the product entirely.
Then “Coca-Cola hastily withdrew 500,000 bottles when it was discovered they contained nearly twice the legal amounts of a chemical that may cause cancers if consumed in large amounts. The company says it has no immediate plans for a relaunch in Britain.” (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0326-08.htm)
the argument was that the pruification process led to the creation of these toxins.
“In Britain, the company took water that came out of the tap at its Sidcup plant and subjected it to sand, carbon, and micron filtration before putting it through reverse osmosis. That process, however, eliminates most of the minerals that make water water, so Coca-Cola added back calcium chloride to meet British water standards. The calcium chloride, the company explained, contained bromide that led to excess levels of bromate, which has been linked to cancer.”
It was consequently dropped from sale in France and germany
December 16th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Rained like a banshee last night - droughts over!
December 16th, 2007 at 9:06 am
LTLFTC > one good rainstorm does not end a drought, but it was the first decent rain in a few months. I got 1.40 inches at Stone Mountain, east of Atlanta, and the Georgia Mountains got around 2 inches. The watershed flow into Lake Lanier could raise level by 6 to 10 inches during the next few days.
Now if this degree of rainfall becomes a trend, for the rest of the winter and spring, then it would mean an easing of the drought. But still would need good summer rains to at least keep yards/lawns alive.
December 16th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
LTLFTC is right!
It’s a sign, a sign from Heaven! Jesus saves! Your prayers have been answered! Hallelujah!
Thank you Sonny!
Guess the blog will be closing soon. Miss you.
December 16th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Gov. Perdue is probably fuming that he did not do a big prayer shindig, just before this last storm, so he could claim credit for it. Unfortunately a lot of Georgians might believe that one good rainstorm ends a drought, but it will require many of them to end it.
When Georgia starts getting 3, 4, 5 or 6 inch rainstorms, then drought will be officially over.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Question: isn’t the trick to buy bottled water from ELSEWHERE? I haven’t stockpiled, but if I decided to, I would make sure the water came from Maine or something, or better yet, the midwest, what with all their snow. And Dansani tastes bad; I would never buy that crap. And now I learn it is Atlanta tap water. LOL.
December 17th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Beachmom:
The State of Vermont sells enormous quantities of delicious spring water bottled near or at the source: real artisan springs flowing out of the ground at a constant 43 degrees year round. Vermont water supplies should be in good shape through at least June as we now have a tremendous snowpack sitting over very warm, unfrozen grounds, which means slow infiltration all winter. We’ll have lots of water for you, and are happy to receive the economic boost to the state.
On a more serious note, some bottled water in our state is pumped out of the ground. Where that happens, ground-water tables are depressed in a cone all around the well-head. Some shallow neighboring wells have actually gone dry. So the point here is that even in the presently well-watered state of Vermont (where, btw, the average non-mountain annual rainfall equivalent amounts are between 26-28 inches. Mountain sites typically receive much more) water use and water scarcity is becoming an issue as well, more so as various bottled-water industry increases around the state.
December 26th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
haul an iceberg from the Arctic to Atlanta. That water would be so clean & fresh!