{"id":432,"date":"2018-02-21T20:28:58","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T01:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nittanyvalley-eco.org\/?p=432"},"modified":"2018-02-21T20:28:58","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T01:28:58","slug":"new-nestle-report-by-food-water-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nittanyvalley-eco.org\/index.php\/2018\/02\/21\/new-nestle-report-by-food-water-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"New Nestle Report by Food & Water Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nestl\u00e9 and Others Cashing in On U.S. Water Infrastructure Crisis<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

New Report Examines Bottled Water Marketing and Impacts on People and the Environment<\/em><\/p>\n

Washington, D.C.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 After a decline during the Great Recession, bottled water sales are back and bigger than ever\u2014even eclipsing soda sales for the first time in 2016. But people buying bottled water might not be aware that it\u2019s nearly 2,000 times more expensive than tap water and four times more expensive than regular-grade gasoline.<\/p>\n

In its\u00a0latest report on the impacts of the bottled water industry<\/a>\u00a0on people and the environment,\u00a0Take Back the Tap: The Big Business Hustle of Bottled Water<\/em>, Food & Water Watch looks at the industry\u2019s predatory marketing, the extraction of communities\u2019 water resources, and the powerhouse lobbying that has helped bottled water corporations see sales soar since 2010.<\/p>\n

In 2014, nearly 64 percent of bottled water came from municipal supplies\u2014essentially filtered tap water\u2014up from 51.8 percent in 2009. Meanwhile, total federal funding for public water infrastructure fell from $6.9 billion in 2010 to nearly $4.4 billion in 2014, a 37 percent drop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Nestl\u00e9 and other bottlers are profiting off of our public water supplies, critical water infrastructure problems are worsening,\u201d said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. \u201cNestl\u00e9 is extracting water in Michigan cheaply to sell pricey bottled water, while Flint and Detroit residents suffer high water service fees.\u00a0These water barons not only prey on distrust of tap water, but they also help reinforce that distrust through lobbying to enact policies to keep the bottled water profits flowing.\u00a0Meanwhile, residents in Martin County, Kentucky, a poor community with a catastrophically failing water system, could soon see their water rates increase\u00a0nearly 50 percent, even though many residents depend on pricey bottled water because of concerns about the safety of their tap water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some key findings of the report include:<\/p>\n