In the US, annual bottled water production accounts for less than 0.02% of the total groundwater withdrawn each year. The bottled water industry uses minimal amounts of groundwater to produce an important consumer product, and does so with great efficiency, according to IBWA.
“Even though it’s a minimal groundwater user and is one of among thousands of food, beverage and commercial water users, bottled water companies actively support comprehensive groundwater management practices that are science-based, multi-jurisdictional, treat all users equitably, and provide for future needs of this important resource,” says IBWA vice president of communications, Tom Lauria.
“The same holds true for the bottled water industry’s support for strong and adequately funded municipal water infrastructure,” he adds. “Nearly all US consumers and industries rely on tap water, and every tax payer and every industry must help to ensure that future supplies of water from municipal systems are safe and plentiful in the years ahead.”
The theme of World Water Day 2009, celebrated on 22 March, is Transboundary Waters, as the United Nations recognises the world’s 263 transboundary lake and river basins, which includes territory in 145 countries covering nearly half of the Earth’s land surface.
“Great reservoirs of fresh water also move silently below international borders in underground aquifers,” as noted by the UN. By the UN’s count, there are more than 270 transboundary aquifers in the world.
“A good example of international cooperation by the bottled water industry on water management issues is the Great Lakes-St Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact, also known as Annex 2001, which was ratified by the US Congress and signed by the president on 3 October 2008 after a decade of negotiation,” says Tom Lauria.
The Compact was endorsed by the Great Lakes governors and Canadian officials in 2005 as a means to protect the water resources of the eight Great Lakes states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) and two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec), providing the necessary international framework to preserve the Great Lakes watershed immediately surrounding the world’s largest fresh water lakes.
“IBWA worked in several Great Lakes states through local counsels and in-state allies, as well as with the Council of Great Lakes Industries (CGLI) to introduce and enact sound legislation to ratify and implement Annex 2001 to protect legitimate water-based businesses interests that operate in the Great Lakes region,” he says.
The Compact seeks to prevent large diversions of water outside the basin, yet allows for consumptive uses such as for food products made with water. It’s designed to enable the states a means to review large-scale water withdrawals of five million gallons or more (a day) in the basin, and to review all proposed diversions of water from the basin. As law, it sets an important precedent that may influence other states or regional basins and adjoining countries as they consider the issue of water resource management in the future.
“Consumers across the US choose bottled water because it’s a healthy, refreshing beverage,” says Lauria. “As a manufactured food product, bottled water is similar to thousands of other beverage and food products that are comprehensively regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a food product.
“Bottled water has its own stringent manufacturing standards governing its safety, purity and labelling. And by law, FDA standards for bottled water must be as protective of public health as US Environmental Protection Agency’s tap water regulations.”
While government and the private sector work to find permanent solutions to provide clean drinking water in under-served communities, bottled water – combined with other solutions such as filtration and bulk filling stations – is an efficient and effective means of delivering clean, sanitary drinking water, says Lauria.
“A growing number of bottled water companies are designating a portion of their income to support global programmes, which help create long-term solutions for the provision of water for drinking, sanitation and hygiene in under-served and developing communities.”
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