Friday, October 24, 2008
Film Water, Water Anywhere? Water Crisis Doc 'FLOW' Tonight at Belcourt
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 8:30 AM
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Anyone who goes to see the FLOW documentary will find it interesting to watch a brief video found at: http://www.nestlewatersissues.com/streaming/.
It was produced for Nestle Waters but consists largely of the comments of third party experts. You can hear directly from local and state officials who made key decisions, and who say FLOW’s claims of environmental harm in Michigan are false. You can also hear from a Michigan environmentalist who says that FLOW’s focus on bottled water distracts from the real issue: protecting water from pollution so that it is safe to drink.
Beyond Michigan, the documentary leaves other impressions that are just not true, such as the idea that bottled water is no different than public water in terms of quality and safety. Nestle Waters spring water brands come from groundwater sources that are more isolated from contamination than typical public sources. And even the Nestle Pure Life brand, which starts with public water, uses extra filtration steps that most public suppliers cannot afford to remove contaminants. So while public water is generally safe to drink, bottled water often provides a higher and consistent level of quality.
Bottled water didn’t cause the environmental risks to public water described in this film and if it disappeared tomorrow, none of those risks would be lessened. In fact, people would lose an important option in situations where they don’t have access to reliable drinking water for the reasons identified in the film.
Bottled water represents four one thousandths of one percent (0.0004%) of total fresh water withdrawals world-wide. Does it make sense to blame bottled water, when the film itself points out that 70% of water use goes to agriculture (which involves pesticides and fertilizers that affect water quality), 20% is industrial (pollution again), and 10% domestic? The film makes bottled water a convenient scapegoat, instead of exploring what real solutions might look like.
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