Spring Break
Taps on water lead to billion dollar industry
OSU professor examines sales of 400 to 500 Aquafina bottles per day, among other things
Tim Pfarr
Issue date: 6/7/07 Section: News
Water - the fuel for life. No living creature on the planet can last without it, and it is now becoming a $100 billion a year business.
In 2006, the world consumed 41 billion gallons of water, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation.
Rich Turnbull, assistant director of university housing and dining services, said OSU alone sells 400 to 500 bottles of Aquafina water a day.
Beginning in the 1970s with French company Perrier, the bottled water industry took the United States by storm, expanding and growing until it eventually swallowed the world's largest beverage and food manufacturers.
Today, familiar names of bottled water can be found everywhere: Dasani (Coca-Cola), Aquafina (Pepsi), Evian (Dannon) and hundreds more.
But few stop to consider where this water comes from and what terms such as "purified" actually mean.
At OSU, Todd Jarvis, senior researcher and assistant professor for OSU's water research graduate program, is determined to spread the word about the bottled water industry.
"It's a huge business," Jarvis said. "You think McDonald's is big, this is bigger. Everyone's in on it."
But Jarvis is not actually against bottled water.
"I try to teach how to buy bottled water," he said. "You need to read the label."
Each term he gives a presentation concerning bottled water in GEO 300, environmental conservation and sustainability, where he explains to students the pitfalls and trickeries of the bottled water industry. Beginning in summer 2007, he will also be instructing the e-campus course GEO/CSS 335, introduction to water science and policy, where he will be going into greater depths about bottled water.
"Our tap water comes from the Willamette River," Jarvis said. "Coca-Cola has a plant in Wilsonville, and they also get their water from the Willamette river."
Jarvis said the only difference between the waters are the treatment processes and the means of distribution. What each company does to their water varies, but a few of them are common.
In 2006, the world consumed 41 billion gallons of water, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation.
Rich Turnbull, assistant director of university housing and dining services, said OSU alone sells 400 to 500 bottles of Aquafina water a day.
Beginning in the 1970s with French company Perrier, the bottled water industry took the United States by storm, expanding and growing until it eventually swallowed the world's largest beverage and food manufacturers.
Today, familiar names of bottled water can be found everywhere: Dasani (Coca-Cola), Aquafina (Pepsi), Evian (Dannon) and hundreds more.
But few stop to consider where this water comes from and what terms such as "purified" actually mean.
At OSU, Todd Jarvis, senior researcher and assistant professor for OSU's water research graduate program, is determined to spread the word about the bottled water industry.
"It's a huge business," Jarvis said. "You think McDonald's is big, this is bigger. Everyone's in on it."
But Jarvis is not actually against bottled water.
"I try to teach how to buy bottled water," he said. "You need to read the label."
Each term he gives a presentation concerning bottled water in GEO 300, environmental conservation and sustainability, where he explains to students the pitfalls and trickeries of the bottled water industry. Beginning in summer 2007, he will also be instructing the e-campus course GEO/CSS 335, introduction to water science and policy, where he will be going into greater depths about bottled water.
"Our tap water comes from the Willamette River," Jarvis said. "Coca-Cola has a plant in Wilsonville, and they also get their water from the Willamette river."
Jarvis said the only difference between the waters are the treatment processes and the means of distribution. What each company does to their water varies, but a few of them are common.
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Daniel
posted 6/15/09 @ 7:22 AM PST
I am glad Mr. Jarvis points out how many barrels of oil are required to transport bottled water every year. Only 20% of the nation's bottles are recycled, so recycling would help. (Continued…)
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