Waterworld The Action Speaks! lecture series probes the commercialization of drinking water BY IAN DONNIS

Action Speaks!, the incisive and provocative annual lecture series at AS220, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a bang. In addition to the signature discussions on "underappreciated days in history that changed America," related documentaries will screen on preceding Mondays at 9 pm on WSBE-TV, Channel 36. The Rhode Island School of Design has joined founding partner AS220 and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities for what organizers tout as a three-way collaboration that will bring fresh energy to the series. Meanwhile, the broader theme for this year’s Action Speaks! (held at AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence) is "the commons," or public ownership — an important topic in an age of unfettered corporate consolidation.

Appropriately enough, the first installment of this year’s Action Speaks!, taking place Wednesday, October 5, from 5:30-7 pm, focuses on Coca-Cola’s 1999 introduction of Dasani water. The unveiling of this product, part of a massive commodification of drinking water in the US over recent decades, raises serious questions. As put by Marc Joel Levitt, Action Speaks!’ host and creative director, "The relationship between public and private ownership is at the heart of American politics and culture, as public resources are increasingly privatized. The question of the commons of is both age-old and newly urgent."

The panelists for this discussion will be Deidre Consolati, leader of citizens’ resistance to municipal water and sewer privatization in Lee, Massachusetts; Geoffrey Segal, director of privatization and government reform for the Reason Foundation, and Tony Clarke, director of the Polaris Institute, and author of Inside the Bottle: An Expose of the Bottled Water Industry (the Polaris Institute, 2005). A related documentary, Thirst, which examines the new economy of water, will be broadcast on WSBE on Monday, October 3 at 9 pm.

The Phoenix, a cosponsor of Action Speaks!, plans to highlight the series by publishing an interview with a panelist prior to each installment. Here is an edited version of my e-mail exchange with Clarke.

When and how did bottled water become such a fast-growing and profitable commodity?

In the US, water has been bottled and sold for over a century, mainly by dozens of small independent companies selling local brands. By the mid 1970s, bottled water sales began to take off. At that time, Perrier was the world’s leading brand of bottled water. Then Nestle, the European food conglomerate, bought out Perrier, along with dozens of other brands, including Vittel and San Pellegrino. In the 1990s, the two US soft drink giants, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, entered the bottled water market with their flagship products, Aquafina and Dasani, thereby posing a challenge to Nestlé’s supremacy. Between the mid 1970s and 2003, worldwide sales in bottled water multiplied ten-fold, from 300 million gallons to 30 billion gallons. Today, one-fifth of the US population depends exclusively on bottled water for their daily hydration.

How does the quality of bottled water compare with tap water in most US communities?

One of the myths promoted by the industry is that bottled water is purer, safer, and healthier than tap water. However, numerous studies by microbiologists and food safety specialists tell another story. In a comprehensive study of 25 brand-name bottled water products, the University of Tuskegee in Alabama, for example, found unacceptable levels of arsenic and mercury. In a major US report on bottled water in 1999, the National Resource Defense Council concluded that bottled water is not nearly as regulated as tap water. According to the NRDC, water-bottling plants are likely to be inspected only once every five or six years, and tap water regulations are almost always held to a stricter set of standards than bottled water regulations. So, bottled water is not necessarily safer, purer, and healthier than tap water. In fact, the opposite may be true.

What are the most adverse effects of the bottled-water industry?

Well, there is a whole litany of adverse effects. Bottled water companies generally pay comparatively little or nothing for the water they take, either from rural springs or from public water systems. They perform this magic feat of turning "water" into "water" through elaborate treatment processes. Yet, they produce a product that is not, as we have seen, necessarily safer than, nor as regulated as, tap water. Then they package it in plastic bottles made of environmentally destructive toxic chemicals, and market it all to an unsuspecting public as "pure, healthy, safe drinking water." And, to top it all off, they sell it at prices that are hundreds, even thousands of times, more costly than ordinary tap water. In short, it amounts to a modern-day scam

Why isn’t more public attention devoted to these issues?

I think a slow, gradual public awakening is taking place. But we need to keep in mind that the corporations that run the bottled water industry — Nestlé, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola — are amongst the most clever advertisers and marketers in the global economy. As Nestlé’s senior vice president of global marketing put it: "We sell water . . . so we have to be clever." Through all their marketing hype, the industry has been able to turn bottled water into what one marketing consultant called "America’s most affordable status symbol." They have also been able to capitalize on peoples’ fear and insecurities by taking advantage of every opportunity to raise doubts about the safety and reliability of tap water. And, let’s not forget, these corporations wield considerable lobbying clout in legislatures to make sure that constraints on the industry are limited.

Here in Rhode Island, some communities have good water sources, but the water becomes discolored or otherwise unappealing because of antiquated pipes and other causes, leading people to buy bottled water. What can be done?

There’s no denying that in certain parts of the US the pipe systems that deliver tap water are aging and need to be repaired or replaced. Yet the money that is spent on bottled water annually in this country could go a long way to improve our public water utilities, making them more reliable, secure, and sustainable. The American Water Works Association (AWWA), for example, estimates that between $250 billion and $300 billion will be needed to maintain and improve the country’s drinking water system. Yet in a single year, bottled water sales could finance more than 60 percent of the investments required by the AWWA’s assessment on an annual basis. What is needed are clear public policy choices. Either we believe that the public tap system has served people well and equitably in this country — and is worth investing in for the future — or we don’t.

How can people resist and challenge the most exploitive practices of the bottled water industry?

Well, to begin, it’s important to become aware of what’s going on with bottled water in one’s own community . . . Students on college and university campuses or high schools might organize themselves to challenge the secret exclusivity contracts that companies like Coca-Cola or PepsiCo have secured to market their bottled water products. In still other communities, local environmental groups may mount a protest against the bottled water industry’s use of plastic containers while consumer groups may decide to take on the price gouging that exists in the sale of bottled water. There are a variety of entry points for citizen action on bottled water issues.

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.