South Africa’s tap water is of the highest quality, yet we consumed 260-million litres of bottled water in 2006.
It takes three litres of water to bottle one litre of water in South Africa, and a litre of mineral water generates 600 times more carbon dioxide than a litre of tap water, not to mention the fossil fuels used in production and shipping.
Ironically, while bottled water is promoted as a healthy alternative to soft drinks, consumers worried about wellÂbeing don’t seem too concerned about the detrimental effect on the planet.
“The fact of the matter is that we do not need to sell bottled water at all. We are the country with the third-cleanest water in the world,” says Rodney February, fresh-water manager for WWF South Africa. “We have very limited water in South Africa — we should not waste so much and use what we have. The energy used to manufacture and transport these bottles contributes to global warming and the huge amount of plastic bottles contributes to pollution.”
A WWF study found that bottled water costs 500 to 1Â 000 times more than tap water. The group estimates that 1,5-million tonnes of plastic is used worldwide to bottle 89-billion litres of water a year.
The Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security estimates that bottling water created 2,5-million tons of carbon dioxide in 2006 in the United States because of the manufacturing of plastic.
Three million litres of water is imported into South Africa every year, including high-end brands such as San Benedetto, San Pellegrino and Evian.
So what is the big attraction of bottled water? Is it a status symbol? Is it just more convenient than tap water? Or are consumers being fooled by fancy marketing campaigns that position these products as “designer urban lifestyle accessories”?
Bonaqua, bottled by Coca-Cola, is still flourishing, despite the recent disclosure that it was essentially selling “purified” water labelled “premium”.
The label now tells us that the water is “obtained from a public or private distribution system” that has been put through a process of reverse osmosis and ozonation, with added minerals.
But Bonaqua says its product is still good value for money. “The process is a highly advanced form of water preparation, originally invented by Nasa,” says its website. “The two leading water brands in the US are both prepared waters using reverse osmosis.”
The Department of Health officially started monitoring and regulating all enterprises producing bottled water for sale to the public in July last year. The regulations state that bottled water must be classified as natural mineral water, prepared water (basically purified tap water) or water defined by origin (such as spring water).
The new hot topic in the labelling of bottled water is the term “flavoured water”, which means it contains added sugar and flavourants, making it a soft drink.
“Bottled water means water that is packed in sealed containers, but does not contain sugars, sweeteners [or] flavourings,” according to the Regulations Relating to all Bottled Waters.
The turnover of the bottled water industry in South Africa was more than R2-billion in 2006, with sales increasing by about 20% a year. Last year, the South African National Bottled Water Association predicted a 34% increase in turnover.