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To fetch a bottle of water!
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Saturday, 28 April, 2007, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Meghanadan S, Mumbai
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e the lifestyle accessory of the health-conscious. No longer a luxury item, the beverage has become a common sight worldwide. India's demand for water creates one of the largest and most attractive water markets in the world.
"Water?" That's the question you would ask the vendor these days, than till the recent past when you would be specifying "mineral water" or "bottled water" to freely refer to one or the other kind of water. People are getting used to paying money to drink water, precisely more money for their water than they do for milk everyday.
Bottled water is drinking water packaged in bottles for individual consumption and retail sale. The water used can be spring water, well water, purified water, etc. Many countries, particularly developed countries, regulate the quality of bottled water through government standards, typically used to ensure that water quality is safe and labels accurately reflect bottle contents. In many developing countries, however, such standards are variable and are often less stringent than those of developed nations.
In the 1970s and 80s, bottled drinking water in India was unheard of. Now, everyone in the country, it seems, is drinking water from plastic bottles. Bottled water, controlled by the likes of Nestle, Pepsi and Coca Cola, is mostly out of reach for most Indians, given its prohibitive prices. Most Indians carrying a plastic water bottle are reusing the empty, non-recyclable plastic for carrying tap water rather than consuming bottled water on a regular basis.
The sales for bottled water are estimated to be between $50 and $100 billion (US) annually and increasing approximately 7 to 10% annually. In 2004, total sales were approximately 154 billion litres (41 billion gallons).
Packaging and advertising work to foster perceptions - perceived convenience, perceived safety versus municipal water, and perceived potability or taste advantages over municipal water - and brand bottled water in ways similar to branded soft drinks.
Consumption
According to Beverage Marketing Corporation, the greatest year-on-year change in the past ten years occurred between 1998 and 1999 when global volume increased by 12.1%. Though the global water market continues to grow at a healthy clip, 2006's volume increase was expected to be the smallest for the period at 7.1%. That's a slightly lower growth rate than for 2005 (7.2%) and 2004 (7.5%).
Safety
Millions and millions of dollars are spent each week on advertising campaigns to give consumers the perception that bottled water comes from some pristine mountain spring or magical underground aquifer assuring purity and quality. However, the fact is that bottled water is often times little more than just tap water in a bottle... sometimes worse!
The bottled water industry is comprehensively regulated as a packaged food product by many countries throughout the world. Bottled water is but one of thousands of food products packaged in plastic containers. While bottled water marketing conveys images of purity, inadequate regulations offer no assurance. Sales of bottled water have exploded in recent years, largely as a result of a public perception of purity driven by advertisements and packaging labels featuring pristine glaciers and crystal-clear mountain springs.
New York City-based action group the Natural Resources Defense Council, which carried out a four-year review of the bottled water industry, in its report concluded "there is no assurance that just because water comes out of a bottle, it is any cleaner or safer than water from the tap."
''Bottled water is not guaranteed to be any healthier than tap water. In fact, roughly 40% of bottled water begins as tap water; often the only difference is added minerals that have no marked health benefit,'' Earth Policy Institute (EPI) said.
The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) says the product provides a convenient, healthy alternative to calorie-laden portable drinks or those containing caffeine and artificial additives.
VAT
The Kerala state government has classified the bottled drinking water under the category of luxurious items in the VAT regime, charging 20% tax. And this system has dealt a heavy blow to the packaged water manufacturers in Kerala, says Mohammed, the office-bearer of the Federation of All India Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers' Association. No other State imposes such a high rate of tax, according to him. In the neighbouring Tamil Nadu, the tax is 10%.
Criticism & regulation
Bottled water is a successful product, available throughout the world, but it and the behaviours it fosters are the subject of vocal criticism. This criticism primarily falls into environmental, economic, and health categories. Some say that bottled water is just tap poured out into a bottle.
Multinationals offer stiff competition to the packaged water manufacturers. Some of these companies allegedly indulge in unethical practices in a bid to maintain upper hand in business. The manufacturers have to guard against fraudsters who supply substandard product in empty bottles of established companies.
It is mandatory for bottled water units to conduct a series of tests to conform to more than 50 parameters specified by the authorities. The consumer too has to be careful against duplicates. In comparison to global standards India's bottled water segment is largely unregulated. Safe water is rated with a different yardstick in different countries. In India, the aspect has been overlooked for long. Indian consumers tend to believe that any bottled water is safe water. This may not be the case.
One of the key parameters separating bottled water from tap water is 'Total Dissolved Solvent' (TDS), which measures hardness. TDS should not be more than 170 ppm (parts per million) for bottled water whereas it's sometimes as high as 1200 ppm for tap water. Also, 'safe' and 'pure' bottled water are different from each other. Safety is relative whereas purity has to be absolute. Natural purity comes from water at sub-soil level that flows through rock formations.
The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) has appointed an independent inspection body to test and evaluate products, systems and services. Members affiliated to IBWA have to undergo a rigorous certification procedure on regular basis. However, the association membership is not mandatory. The emphasis is more on voluntary participation of member companies, which hampers it's functioning.
There is a need for major players to adopt good manufacturing practices (GMPs) voluntarily. Unfortunately, the quantitative growth in the segment has not resulted in a corresponding qualitative growth, and remains a major area of worry.
And the bottle?
More fossil fuels are used in packaging the water. Most water bottles are made with polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic derived from crude oil. Worldwide, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water each year. Meanwhile, communities from near which the water came in the first place risk running dry. More than 50 Indian villages have complained of water shortages after bottlers began extracting water for sale under Coca-Cola Co.'s Dasani label.
Bottled water has become an essential component of modern life. It is the main source of drinking water for many among the urban community. The dema
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