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Restaurants urged to serve free tap water
· Water firm and watchdog launch campaigns
· Ministers support drive to end 'snobbery'
Feb 2008
Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent The Guardian, Monday
February 11 2008 Article history · Contact us Contact usClose Contact the
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article appeared in the Guardian on Monday February 11 2008 on p12 of the UK
news section. It was last updated at 10:19 on February 19 2008. Ministers
and the UK's biggest water provider will seek to end a long-standing culture
of tap water "snobbery" by urging restaurants and cafes to routinely serve
free tap water to their customers. Thames Water is to take the lead at a
time of growing consumer dissatisfaction with bottled mineral water, and
concerns about its cost and carbon footprint.
The initiative will come alongside a drive to encourage the UK hospitality
industry to offer customers tap water as a matter of course. It is led by
the government-funded Consumer Council for Water (CCW), which has drawn up
plans for a national kitemark, or accreditation scheme, which would allow
consumers to choose restaurants with the friendliest policies on serving tap
water based on a "tick" symbol displayed on doors, menus and websites.
Thames Water - which serves about 13 million business and domestic customers
in London and the Thames Valley - will this month announce a campaign to
encourage catering outlets to serve tap water without people having to ask
for it. The environment minister Phil Woolas said: "It is not up to us to
say what people drink. But people pay significant sums for mineral water and
I welcome any campaign to drink more tap water, which is of a better quality
than it has ever been before." Britons drink 3bn bottles of bottled water
every year. Half a billion are flown or shipped in from overseas, leaving a
huge carbon footprint. Transporting bottled water in the UK is estimated to
produce about 33,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions - equivalent to the
annual energy consumption of 6,000 homes.
A spokeswoman for Thames Water said: "We are very proud of our water. It is
99.97% compliant with very stringent targets, which makes it the top quality
in this country, if not in the world. In a recent blind tasting organised by
Decanter magazine we came third, competing with expensive bottled mineral
water. As a water company we would never say 'don't drink bottled water' but
the consumer should be given the choice. You can drink our water and enjoy
it." Recent research by the National Consumer Council revealed that 70%of
the public think that mineral water sold in restaurants is too expensive. It
also found that nine out of 10 UK restaurants pushed diners to buy expensive
bottled water and failed to offer them free tap water. Some restaurants
charged up to £3.50 for a 35p bottle of mineral water.
According to CCW figures, an adult drinking their required (for health
reasons) eight glasses a day would pay just £1 a year through their domestic
water supply charges, and £500 a year if they drank a mid-range mineral
water.
Dame Yve Buckland, chair of the CCW, said: "I am not saying to restaurants,
don't serve bottled water. I am saying give consumers a choice. It's not
good enough for diners to be treated as cheapskates, just because they have
asked for tap water."
· This article was amended on Tuesday February 19 2008. Thames Water claims
that 99.97% of tests on samples taken from its customers' taps meet national
and European standards on water quality, not 98.9%, as we said in the
article above. This has been corrected.
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'Environmental insanity' to drink bottled
water when it tastes as good from the tap
Campaigners have attacked Britain's 2bn thirst for bottled
water as "environmental insanity" after a report
showed that tap water in the UK is among the
safest and purest in the world.
By Cahal Milmo
29 June 2006
More than two billion litres of bottled water fly off shop shelves every
year and sales are growing at nearly 9 per cent a year - one of the
highest growth areas in retail. At an average of
95p per litre, it costs as much as petrol, while
the average cost of tap water in the UK is 1 per 1,0000
litres. Consumption of these products now
doubles every five years in Britain and represent
16 per cent of all soft drinks sold in the UK, with Britons on
average consuming 37 litres of bottled water a year. Worldwide it is
estimated that 154 billion litres of bottled water, generating
revenues of 58bn, are now consumed each year - an
increase of 57 per cent over five years.
Environmentalists seized on the annual figures from the Drinking Water
Inspectorate (DWI) showing that tap water met stringent quality
standards in 99.96 per cent of cases in 2005 - up
0.02 per cent on 2004. Green groups said that the
statistics served to highlight the damaging
ecological impact of bottled water. The energy cost of producing a billion
plastic bottles from by-products of crude oil, transporting the water
over hundreds or thousands of miles and then
disposing of the containers in landfill sites or
incinerators made bottled water one of Britain's most
wasteful luxuries, they said. Vicky Hird,
senior food campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: "People
are being sold an incredibly seductive image with bottled water -
that it is the key to health and well being. But
what is not recognised is the huge cost in wasted
resources that bottled water represents compared to the very
high-quality water that is sitting in our taps at an fraction of the
price to the planet and to our wallets.''
The DWI, a publicly funded agency in charge of monitoring water
quality, said in its annual report that it was
satisfied that water companies, under fire in
parts of the country for abysmal leakage rates at a time of drought,
were meeting targets to improve water quality. The 0.04 per cent of
water that did not meet all testing criteria was
still deemed safe to drink but presented localised
problems with iron, nickel and lead levels.
Richard Ehrlich, the wine writer, said yesterday that he had always
favoured tap water over bottled water. After
carrying out a blind taste test of tap water
versus Evian and Volvic, he praised his winning glass of Thames Water
as "so pure and neutral it was almost sweet". Urging consumers to
follow his lead, he added: "Do you really think
that bottled water is purer than the tap water
provided by your local water company? Chances are that it is not.
The water coming out of your unloved kitchen tap is just as pure, if
not purer."
Britain imports about 25 per cent of its bottled water, the vast majority
from France. The industry insists that the global figure for imported
water is less than 5 per cent. But it amounts to
an additional environmental burden caused by a
profligate "throwaway" society at a time of global
warming, according to campaigners.
One recent study calculated that the bottled water industry in the UK
generated annually about 33,200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions
through transport - equivalent to the annual
energy consumption of 6,000 homes. According to
industry figures, Britons consume about 1.5 billion litres
of water each year from bottles made out of
polyethylene terephthalate or PET - a plastic made
out of crude oil extracts. Despite a reduction of
30 per cent in the amount of PET that goes into each
bottle, only about 10 per cent of the bottles are recycled. Most go
to landfill, where they take 450 years to break
down. The Earth Policy Institute, a
Washington-based think-tank, said the situation in
Britain was being replicated across the developed world with
bottled water being transported across borders to reach consumers.
Janet Larsen, its director of research, said:
"Transporting water around the globe involves
burning massive quantities of fossil fuels and thus emitting
greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere. This
contrasts starkly with tap water, which is
distributed through an energy efficient
infrastructure." While Britons drink
an average of 37 litres per person a year, the UK lags
far behind the world's most profligate bottled water consumers. The
French drink 141 litres, the Mexicans 169 litres
and the Italians have the highest per capita
consumption at 184 litres. Representatives of the
industry insisted yesterday that consumers and
manufacturers were paying the extra cost of bottled water through its
elevated cost. A spokesman for the British Soft Drinks Association
said: "Bottled water is a matter of consumer
choice - it offers convenience, a choice of taste
and composition and the fact that it is unprocessed.
"There are environmental considerations. Recycling is an issue that
encompasses manufacturers, consumers and local authorities but those
factors are already included in the cost that
people are paying for bottled water."
Taking the taste test
Scott Woods 51 Psychotherapist from Islington, London
VOLVIC: Quite nice, not too sharp.
TAP: There's nothing in the taste telling me it's tap.
EVIAN: That's tap.
"In London we are one of the few cities where people actually have to buy
water when they are out. We should be putting water dispensers
everywhere,
especially on the Tube."
Aride Cillia 36 Mother and housewife from Islington, London
EVIAN: That's tap water. It tastes flat and lifeless.
TAP: I think that's Volvic.
VOLVIC: Ah, that's quite similar to the last one.
"I do drink tap water at home but when I'm out I'll buy bottled. I've no
concerns about tap water health-wise. Maybe people started using
bottled water because they got the idea it's safer
but I don't think that's true in this country."
Jason Boon 35 Flower-seller from Regent's Park, London
VOLVIC: Very soft, that's the tap water.
TAP: Could be Volvic, it tastes rougher than the last one.
EVIAN: Ah, that's really smooth, that's Evian definitely.
"I buy bottled water all the time. I believe the advertising that they have
minerals and are somehow good for me. Now that I've done this test
and couldn't tell the difference, I think I should
stop buying the bottled water!"
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Eau, no: Clean, healthy and pure? Hardly.
Bottled water is killing the planet
And our thirst grows, with 154 billion litres drunk in one
year.The Independent
14 Feb 2006
Bottled water, the designer-look drink that has become a near-universal ac-cessory
of modern life, may be refreshing but it certainly isn't clean. A major new
study has concluded that its production is seriously damaging the
environment.
It costs 10,000 times more to create the bottled version than it does to
produce tap water, say scientists. Huge resources are needed to draw it from
the ground, add largely irrelevant minerals, and package and distribute it -
sometimes half-way around the world.
The plastic bottles it comes in take 1,000 years to biodegrade, and in
industrialised countries, bottled water is no more pure and healthy than
what comes out of the tap.
The new study comes from the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), a
Washington-based environmental group which has previously alerted the world
to melting ice caps, expanding deserts and the environmental threats of a
rapidly industrialising China. It points out that the world consumed a
staggering 154 billion litres of bottled water in 2004 - an increase of 57
per cent in just half a decade.
Emily Arnold, the report's author, said: "Even in areas where tap water is
safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing - producing
unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy."
Leading activists and high profile environmentalists yesterday voiced their
approval of the study, and concern over the effect our seemingly insatiable
appetite for bottled water is having.
Bob Geldof said: "Bottled water is bollocks. It is the great irony of the
21st century that the most basic things in the supermarket, such as water
and bread, are among the most expensive. Getting water from the other side
of the world and transporting it to sell here is ridiculous. It is all to do
with lifestyle."
Dr Michael Warhurst, Friends of the Earth's senior waste campaigner, said:
"It is another product we do not need. Bottled water companies are wasting
resources and exacerbating climate change.
"Transport is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, and
transporting water adds to that. We could help reduce these damaging effects
if we all simply drank water straight from the tap."
According to the EPI report, tap water is delivered through an
"energy-efficient infrastructure", whereas bottled water is often shipped
halfway across the world, burning huge amounts of fossil fuels and
accelerating global warming. In 2004, for example, Finnish company Nord
Water sent 1.4 million bottles of Helsinki tap water to a client in Saudi
Arabia. In the same year, producing the plastic bottles that delivered 26
billion litres of water to Americans required more than 1.5 million barrels
of oil - enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year.
Peter Ainsworth, the shadow Secretary of State for Environ-ment,said: "It
doesn't take a huge leap of the imagination to work out that they're on to
something here. It is obvious that there are big environmental issues around
bottled water, and people need to be made more aware of them."
The UK is by no means the biggest consumer of bottled water - the average
Briton drank 33 litres in 2004, a sixth of the amount drunk by the typical
Italian - but sales are rocketing. Coca-Cola bought the Malvern brand in
1999, seeing it as a remedy to falling sales of soft drinks.
The US's second most imported brand, Fiji, which is shipped around the world
from the middle of the South Pacific, has been gaining ground in the UK.
Fashionable London restaurant Nobu charges 5 for small bottles, and is even
rumoured to boil its rice in it. It has been featured in popular TV series
such as Sex and the City and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and is rumoured to be
the choice of Tom Cruise, Ozzy Osbourne, Heather Graham, Jennifer Aniston
and Renee Zellweger.
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Suckers?
As reports of contamination in a top bottled water brand are
investigated, Britain's biggest suppliers are reportedly preparing to launch
a major new brand at under 24s. But why are we turning our backs on the tap?
By Jonathan Duffy
BBC News Magazine
25 Oct 2005
With some 250 brands crowding the shelves, there's no shortage of choice for
those who like to sip, gulp or swig their water from a designer source.
Would anyone notice another newcomer to the bottled water market? They
surely will if the latest speculation in the industry is anything to go by.
French food giant Danone, which already owns one of Britain's top bottled
water brands, Evian, is rumoured to be planning a major launch of a new
water in the new year, aimed at under 24s.
While British shoppers have gushed in ever greater numbers to buy bottled
water in recent years, they still represent a relative trickle compared to
consumers on the continent.
Sales are projected to rise by 20% in the coming five years, proving this is
one sector that's far from saturated.
Even the latest in a string of health scares is, judging by previous
examples, unlikely to have any lasting damage. The BBC has discovered some
bottles of Volvic, which sells three million bottles a day, contained a
potentially harmful chemical called naphthalene.
PRICE AND POPULARITY
Average daily cost per household for water - 68p
Average supermarket price for a two-litre bottle of Evian - 68p
52% of adults drink bottled water, compared to about 90% in France Germany
and Italy
Source: Water UK, Which?, TGI survey, Marketing magazine
Danone, which owns the brand, says it is investigating the matter, but that
it had appeared to be an isolated incident.
Last year Coca Cola withdrew its Dasani brand of bottled water after it was
found to contain illegal levels of the chemical bromate, and it's 15 years
since supermarkets cleared their shelves of Perrier after it was found to
contain the chemical benzene.
Yet still bottled water is seen as the archetypal health drink.
This is partly down to a growing backlash against sugary soda drinks. But
sceptics say the logic starts to tail off in light of the fact that tap
water has never been of higher quality in the UK.
A quick comparison of the prices and one might deduce the bottled water
firms have pulled off something close to modern-day alchemy. The average
daily cost for an entire household's water - from the tap to the loo flush,
and everything in between - is 68 pence, exactly the same as the typical
supermarket price of a two-litre bottle of Evian.
At these prices, a family of four could expect to shell out almost 1,000 a
year on bottled water if they were each drinking their recommended daily
two-litre intake.
So why do millions of us choose to pay a huge premium for what we can
otherwise get for almost nothing from the tap?
A question of taste
Taste is a common concern. Many people believe bottled water tastes better,
principally because it doesn't have the chlorine used to clean tap water -
some bottled varieties use ozone, which is more expensive.
It's a subjective issue, but the Drinking Water Inspectorate claims that if
tap water is chilled, most of us can't taste the difference.
Portability is perhaps underrated by many. Bottled water is easy to pick up
and throw away, and some brands have a street cachet.
Psychology also plays a role. Despite what we are told about tap water being
cleaner than ever, it's hard not to be at least mildly repulsed by the
thought that in some parts of the country at least, it has been recycled
several times.
In contrast, mineral water brands use words such as "pure" and "unspoiled"
to reinforce the natural image of their product.
Fears of modern life; a growing suspicion of science, driven by food and
other health scares, also drives us to the bottle, according to research.
"Bottled water is the natural antidote to chemicals and technologies full of
risk and hazard," says Simon Wessely, a psychiatry professor at King's
College, London.
While chemicals are bad, minerals are good in the public consciousness -
another persuasive argument for mineral water supporters, especially those
drawn to the emerging range of waters with added minerals and vitamins.
But nutritionist Joanne Lunn of the British Nutrition Foundation is
sceptical.
Sex changes
"You shouldn't be choosing bottled water over tap water as being better for
you," she says. "There's very little difference in the calcium and
phosphates found in either, but we get the vast majority of our essential
minerals from our food. Water is for hydration, not its mineral content."
KNOW YOUR WATERS
Natural mineral water - must come from natural source and be free of harmful
bacteria and pollution
Spring water - must also be from underground source, but treatment is
allowed to reduce mineral content
Bottled drinking water (table water/spa water) - no restrictions on source,
but must meet basic criteria
Fellow nutritionist Adam Carey is more doubtful, saying the quality of tap
water varies greatly around the country.
"For probably the vast majority of people, the worry about tap water is
exaggerated and this has allowed companies to feed on the hysteria."
But he is concerned by findings which point to rising oestrogen levels in
river water, thought to derive from nitrates in fertilisers and residues
from contraceptive pills, and the effect these might have on humans when
water is recycled.
There's evidence that some male fish are changing sex, perhaps because of
this, and Dr Carey questions whether it might explain why average sperm
counts among men have dropped significantly in a generation.
In 2002, the Environment Agency said oestrogen in water did not present a
risk to people as it was routinely treated with chemicals that removed
pollutants, including oestrogens.
But some continue to doubt the theory.
"I'm not saying anything is certain here, but I'm not prepared to take
chances," says Dr Carey, who advises the English rugby team on nutrition.
But bottled water is no panacea, he believes, because tap water is still
used in cooking and tea and coffee. He uses a reverse osmosis filter at
source, so his tap water comes out ready filtered.
"You can even bottle it and take it with you. Some people would even sell
it."
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Add your comments on this story, using the form below.
An interesting article. I buy fizzy supermarket mineral water - I like it
and it is cheaper and more drinkable than fizzy pop or fruit juice. Why
don't I just chill tap water? I don't know... In fact I am going to try. I
just need to borrow someone's SodaStream.
David White, UK
Living in Edinburgh, I drink water from the tap all the time, but on a
recent trip to London found the water totally unpalatable. It has a distinct
taste, which as far as I'm aware, water should not have, and had to be mixed
with diluting juice before it became drinkable. I can entirely understand
why bottled water is gaining in popularity if this is the case in other
English cities.
Craig Topp, Edinburgh, UK
There is one word missing from every single brand of bottled water. The word
is 'drinking'! You have to ask yourself why this is. Tap water is by far the
best. Fill a bottle, leave the lid off for twenty minutes and store in the
refrigerator. Much better than any of this bottled stuff.
Andy Holman, Norfolk
Spending money on bottled water? What's Evian spelt backwards?
David , London
Why would I want to drink my tap water? It tastes disgusting, particularly
when boiled, it spoils the taste of tea and coffee, vegetables, etc. There
is a definite difference when the water has been filtered. I know my local
water authority tells me that my water is safe to drink, but quite honestly
I'm not convinced of that when my bath water comes out smelling of chlorine
- Would I go down to my local swimming pool and drink from it? No I
wouldn't, and I'm not drinking my swimming pool flavoured water either.
Alison, Margate, UK
I was finding that my drinking tumblers were going milky white instead of
transparent, so I did a test. I took one and scrubbed it, dried and polised
it and it stayed transparent. I then rinsed it with tap water inside and out
and let it dry naturally. I couldn't see through it. That's how much other
stuff was in the tap water. I don't go for the big name brands, though, they
add cost without adding quality, I go for the "table water" which still has
to meet quality standards.
Chris C, Aylesbury, UK
I understand perfectly people drinking bottled water if their tap water
tasted as disgusting as ours. I live in a hard water area which suffers from
showers & taps becoming stained with a hard brown crust.
John, Telford, Shropshire
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