Information ...
The case for Water Purification ...
It is an absolute fact that, today, all water sources are severely contaminated and certainly not fit for human consumption without suitable intervention. Our water supplies are chlorinated, fluoridated and otherwise treated with various chemicals in an attempt to render the water "safe". It does not take rocket science to conclude, that water treated in such a manner and ultimately destined for human consumption, cannot be acceptable.
The only way to combat this horrendous scenario, is to purify water for human consuption by way of filtration. That is to say, purify the water supply by taking all contaminants out. This is where a 5-stage, reverse osmosis, water purification system comes into the picture. It is a state of the art method of providing the purest water to drink and cook with. No other system comes close and you do need five stages of filtration to do the right job. See our FAQs section for more detailed information.
Bottled Water ...
Extract from the Sustain (the alliance for better food & farming) Bottled Water Report "Have you bottled it?" 2006
Researched and written by Lucie Wanctin Edited by Kath Dalmeny and Jeanette Longfield December 2006
Acknowledgements
Sustain would like to thank all those people, too numerous to mention, who contributed to this short report. However, any errors or omissions are, of course, our responsibility. In particular, we acknowledge that some of the material is more relevant to England, than to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
1. Drinking more and more
The trend for "taking the cures" in water spas started in 16th century France in places like Vichy-les-Bains and soon spread to the UK and elsewhere. The "curative" properties of bathing in these spring and mineral waters then expanded to include drinking water and, at the beginning of the 18th century, flasks of such water began to travel across the UK. The mineral waters were drunk for their
supposed medicinal or health properties, whereas spring waters became well-known for being pure and cleansing.1
In recent years the market for these and other bottled waters has grown beyond recognition, across the world. Between 1994 and 2002 the global bottled water market has grown by almost 250%, from 58 billion litres to 144 billion litres in 2002. Much of this growth has been in Asian and Australasian countries, where the market has expanded by 500%, but even in western Europe, where
the market is already large, there was 37%growth.2 In the UK alone, in 2005, the bottled water market was worth an estimated £1.7 billion (up from £1.57 billion in 2004) with around 2 billion litres sold.3 Industry commentators note that: "Since 2000 there have been 10 million new bottled water drinkers in the UK. More than half the population, that's 26 million adults, now drink over two billion litres every year, with growth expected at a rate of 6-7% year on year until 2010… 2.1 billion litres of bottled water were sold in the UK in 2004 - nearly 3/4 the size of the cola market." 4
So who is selling it to us? The table below shows the market leaders who, between them, are responsible for around a third of the bottled water sold in the UK. The rest is made up of a wide range of small independent companies, with the Food Standards Agency's most recent list of officially recognised mineral waters (see "Purer" than thou below) including around 100 different companies.5
The market leaders in bottled water in the UK, 2004
Water brand Market share (by value)
Evian (Danone) 9.7%
Volvic (Danone) 7.3%
Powwow (Nestlé, in bottled water coolers) 7.2%
Highland Spring 6.9%
Buxton (Nestlé) 3%
Aqua Pura (Princes) 2%
Strathmore 2%
Source: Zenith International (March 2005) and The Times 6
1 Dorothy Senior and Nicholas Dege - Technology of bottled water, second edition - 2005 - Blackwell Publishing
2 Dorothy Senior and Nicholas Dege - Technology of bottled water, second edition - 2005 - Blackwell Publishing
3 Food Standard Agency - Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water And Bottled Drinking Water (Scotland) Regulations 2006 partial RIA -
Annex E: Partial regulatory impact assessment - 2006
4 Zenith International - UK Bottled Water Report (2005), http://www.zenithinternational.com/market_industry_reports/report_list.asp?cat=2
5 Gateway to the European Union - Consolidated list of natural mineral waters recognised in the UK - May 2006 - http://europa.eu.int/
6 Zenith International - UK Bottled Water Report (2005), http://www.zenithinternational.com/market_industry_reports/report_list.asp?cat=2
and Times on line - Turn back to your taps - we all pay the price for bottled water / The cost of bottled water - 18 February 2006
Nestle says on its website7 that it has 75 brands of bottled water, including not only Buxton (listed in the table), but also Perrier, San Pellegrino and Vittel. People may also be interested to know that Coca-cola owns Malvern bottled water, and although Pepsico sells Aquafina in the USA, it only sells bottled water in the UK through Britvic (Drench, and Pennine Spring).
It is an absolute fact that, today, all water sources are severely contaminated and certainly not fit for human consumption without suitable intervention. Our water supplies are chlorinated, fluoridated and otherwise treated with various chemicals in an attempt to render the water "safe". It does not take rocket science to conclude, that water treated in such a manner and ultimately destined for human consumption, cannot be acceptable.
The only way to combat this horrendous scenario, is to purify water for human consuption by way of filtration. That is to say, purify the water supply by taking all contaminants out. This is where a 5-stage, reverse osmosis, water purification system comes into the picture. It is a state of the art method of providing the purest water to drink and cook with. No other system comes close and you do need five stages of filtration to do the right job. See our FAQs section for more detailed information.
Bottled Water ...
Extract from the Sustain (the alliance for better food & farming) Bottled Water Report "Have you bottled it?" 2006
Researched and written by Lucie Wanctin Edited by Kath Dalmeny and Jeanette Longfield December 2006
Acknowledgements
Sustain would like to thank all those people, too numerous to mention, who contributed to this short report. However, any errors or omissions are, of course, our responsibility. In particular, we acknowledge that some of the material is more relevant to England, than to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
1. Drinking more and more
The trend for "taking the cures" in water spas started in 16th century France in places like Vichy-les-Bains and soon spread to the UK and elsewhere. The "curative" properties of bathing in these spring and mineral waters then expanded to include drinking water and, at the beginning of the 18th century, flasks of such water began to travel across the UK. The mineral waters were drunk for their
supposed medicinal or health properties, whereas spring waters became well-known for being pure and cleansing.1
In recent years the market for these and other bottled waters has grown beyond recognition, across the world. Between 1994 and 2002 the global bottled water market has grown by almost 250%, from 58 billion litres to 144 billion litres in 2002. Much of this growth has been in Asian and Australasian countries, where the market has expanded by 500%, but even in western Europe, where
the market is already large, there was 37%growth.2 In the UK alone, in 2005, the bottled water market was worth an estimated £1.7 billion (up from £1.57 billion in 2004) with around 2 billion litres sold.3 Industry commentators note that: "Since 2000 there have been 10 million new bottled water drinkers in the UK. More than half the population, that's 26 million adults, now drink over two billion litres every year, with growth expected at a rate of 6-7% year on year until 2010… 2.1 billion litres of bottled water were sold in the UK in 2004 - nearly 3/4 the size of the cola market." 4
So who is selling it to us? The table below shows the market leaders who, between them, are responsible for around a third of the bottled water sold in the UK. The rest is made up of a wide range of small independent companies, with the Food Standards Agency's most recent list of officially recognised mineral waters (see "Purer" than thou below) including around 100 different companies.5
The market leaders in bottled water in the UK, 2004
Water brand Market share (by value)
Evian (Danone) 9.7%
Volvic (Danone) 7.3%
Powwow (Nestlé, in bottled water coolers) 7.2%
Highland Spring 6.9%
Buxton (Nestlé) 3%
Aqua Pura (Princes) 2%
Strathmore 2%
Source: Zenith International (March 2005) and The Times 6
1 Dorothy Senior and Nicholas Dege - Technology of bottled water, second edition - 2005 - Blackwell Publishing
2 Dorothy Senior and Nicholas Dege - Technology of bottled water, second edition - 2005 - Blackwell Publishing
3 Food Standard Agency - Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water And Bottled Drinking Water (Scotland) Regulations 2006 partial RIA -
Annex E: Partial regulatory impact assessment - 2006
4 Zenith International - UK Bottled Water Report (2005), http://www.zenithinternational.com/market_industry_reports/report_list.asp?cat=2
5 Gateway to the European Union - Consolidated list of natural mineral waters recognised in the UK - May 2006 - http://europa.eu.int/
6 Zenith International - UK Bottled Water Report (2005), http://www.zenithinternational.com/market_industry_reports/report_list.asp?cat=2
and Times on line - Turn back to your taps - we all pay the price for bottled water / The cost of bottled water - 18 February 2006
Nestle says on its website7 that it has 75 brands of bottled water, including not only Buxton (listed in the table), but also Perrier, San Pellegrino and Vittel. People may also be interested to know that Coca-cola owns Malvern bottled water, and although Pepsico sells Aquafina in the USA, it only sells bottled water in the UK through Britvic (Drench, and Pennine Spring).
