WATER NEWS
Important Notice to Berkey Customers
January 21st, 2023If you have purchased Black Berkey replacement elements from Watermatters™ since August 2021 that you have stored for future use, or if your elements are in use and ... More »
Archives by Month
- January 2023
- October 2022
- October 2021
- May 2020
- July 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- February 2019
- December 2018
- September 2018
- June 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- October 2016
- June 2016
- March 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- October 2015
- August 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- October 2014
- June 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- October 2013
- September 2013
- March 2013
- November 2012
- October 2012
- July 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- October 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- June 2007
April 2008
-
North America Says NO to Bottled Water
Saturday, April 12th, 2008Community Protests, Slowing Market Hang Over Nestlé Shareholders’ Meeting
BOSTON – April 10 – Today in Lausanne, Switzerland, Nestlé executives and shareholders’ had the opportunity to reflect on a year that has been marked by a growing antipathy toward the corporation’s signature product – bottled water.
Community protests over water rights have stymied Nestlé’s attempts in North America to secure new water sources for bottled water brands like Poland Spring. Just this week BusinessWeek documented one town’s struggles in A Town Torn Apart by Nestlé. This coverage comes on the heels of major congressional hearings that have called into question Nestlé’s bottling practices at sites across the country.
North American campaigns to wean cities, restaurants, and other establishments from bottled water, such as Think Outside the Bottle, also appear to be taking their toll on Nestlé’s sales. In the recent article, Nestle Loses Sales as Alice Waters Bans Bottled Water, Bloomberg reported that Nestlé water unit’s operating profit growth will shrink by half in 2008. The backdrop to this is an overall downturn in market growth in the United States.
“When other businesses, including world-class restaurants, begin pointing to Nestlé products as wasteful, bad for the environment, and unnecessary, it doesn’t paint the rosiest picture for investors,” said Gigi Kellett, national director for Think Outside the Bottle, a campaign of Corporate Accountability International. “Nestlé can use its shareholders’ meeting to start explaining how it will stop practices that involve strong-arming communities out of their most precious resource.”
Corporate Accountability International is calling on Nestlé to:
- reveal the sources and sites of the water used for bottling;
- publicly report breaches in bottled water quality comparable to reports by public water system;
- and stop threatening local control of water when siting and operating bottled water plants
In concert with Nestlé’s annual shareholders’ meeting, Corporate Accountability International has launched a website dedicated to exposing Nestlé abuses.
The website provides a link to a Polaris Institute map of North American bottling sites and documents three community struggles including:
Fryeburg, Maine. Locals call the water source the Ward’s Brook Aquifer, but the end product is called Poland Spring. The bottling plant’s impact on the aquifer has 90-year-old Howard Dearborn and his neighbors waging a campaign to return Fryeburg’s water to public control. Read the story.
Mecosta County, Michigan. When Nestlé wanted to build a bottling plant on the shores of a wildlife sanctuary, locals said enough is enough. But the corporation is challenging the community’s right to protect this valued natural area and the essential resource that lies beneath it. Read the story.
For more information on Think Outside the Bottle, community struggles, and for facts about bottled water, visit their site.
###
SOURCE: Corporate Accountability International
Nick Guroff 617-447-2507
Sara Joseph 617-447-2527
Connect with us