Week 9: Natural Resources (Water)

Fresh Water: A source and Precious Resource

Planet Earth is about 71% water

-97.5% salt water

-2.5 freshwater frozen in icecaps, glacier (68.7%), or in groundwater - underground aquifers (30.1%), difficult to reach

-1.2% of the 2.5% freshwater accessible for human use is from surface water (lakes and rivers) replenished through hydrologic cycle

Globally

“water justice” the UN recognizes the right to water as a human right necessary to realize all other human rights and to live under freedom and dignity

-one in six people doesn’t have access to safe drinking water

-1/3 population lives in water-stressed regions

-3.5M deaths/year waterborne disease - inequality of access to clean water

Fresh Water: A source and Precious Resource

Planet Earth is about 71% water

-97.5% salt water

-2.5 freshwater frozen in icecaps, glacier (68.7%), or in groundwater - underground aquifers (30.1%), difficult to reach

-1.2% of the 2.5% freshwater accessible for human use is from surface water (lakes and rivers) replenished through hydrologic cycle

Globally

“water justice” the UN recognizes the right to water as a human right necessary to realize all other human rights and to live under freedom and dignity

-one in six people doesn’t have access to safe drinking water

-1/3 population lives in water-stressed regions

-3.5M deaths/year waterborne disease - inequality of access to clean water

Water Scarcity

the demand for water exceeds the supple - the population increases but the supply of usable water is fixed

-experts predict by 2025, ¾ of people on earth will experience water scarcity

Contributing Factors:

-Domestic - overuse of water (HH level), agricultural, and industrial use (energy production), droughts, contamination, climate disruptions

Bottle Water Consumption

there is a rise in consumption of bottled water (in poorer and wealthier) countries where traditional and municipal sources have been compromised

-population increases, but the amount of freshwater is fixed, which means increasing scarcity of a resource

-as of 2015, globally 29% of the population lacks access to safe drinking water

-Solution = bottled water

-in wealthier countries, municipal water sources may become compromised, contaminated from pollution

• lead, toxic waste disposal agricultural run-off from fertilizer, chemicals, manure, etc

-bottled water is a temporary solution during an emergency (Flint Water Crisis)

Where does bottled water go?

Top Bottled Water Consuming countries?

-Nestle PureLife - over 40 countries, across 5 continents

1. China (10.42 B gallons)

2. USA (10.12 B gallons)

3. Mexico (8.23 B gallons)

4. Indonesia (4.82 B gallons)

5. Brazil (4.8 B gallons)

6. Thailand (3.99 B gallons)

7. Italy (3.17 B gallons)

8. Germany (3.11 B gallons)

9. France (2.41 B gallons)

10. India (1.04 B gallons)

-Most of the countries with high consumption of bottled water is because of hot climates

Spring water

derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth

Purified water

has been produced by distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis, or other suitable processes

-it often gets overly purified that it removes most or all of the good minerals within

Mineral water

containing not less than 250 parts per million total dissolved solids

Artesian water

from a well that taps a confined aquifer (a water-bearing underground layer of rock or sand) in which the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer

where to bottled water come from?

lots of bottled water comes from drought zones

-in the US it comes from California /west coast area

-55% spring water

-45% municipal water

Drinking Water Choices: Bottled and Tap

in 2011: Bottled water sales hit a new record high

-21.7B revenue for industry

-Americans consumed 9.1 B gallon bottled water

-per capita consumption 29.2 gallons u from 18.2 in 2001

WHY?

-Is it a problem of water scarcity?

-Perceptual scarcity?

-A response to declining water quality?

or

-A ‘manufactured demand’ cleverly engineered to make profits?

Is bottled water safer than tap water?

Perceptual scarcity: our perception is that bottled water is safer and healthier than tap water

Is It?

They both contain:

-disinfection by-products, pesticides, heavy metals, radioactive material, pharmaceuticals

So what’s the difference?

Testing and reporting!

-Public utilities are REQUIRED to let you know what’s in your tap water

-bottled water industry is NOT required

Municipal Tap Water

-more than 89% of tap water meets or exceeds EPAs federal health and softy regulations

-utilities test tap water hundreds of thousands of times per year

-report results to state and federal agencies, accessible to the public

Bottled Water

-under jurisdiction of FDA - underfunded, understaffed, One person oversees entire industry

-self-regulated, self testing, industry, bottling plants do testing. Spend millions to keep it this way. Strong lobby

-NOT required to make reports public

-if water is packaged and sold within the state, except from FDA regulations

-left to states and 1 in 5 has no regulations at all

-inspected by FDA once every 5-10 years

Tested results of bottled water

NRDC, American Society of Microbiology, Kansas Dept of Health peer-reviewed university study found:

-samples contained coliform bacteria, in some cases 10X as high in tap water (due to lack of chlorine as disinfectant)

-arsenic, bromine, lead, selenium, chloroform

-plastic by-products

-phthalates, BPA, PCBs from plastic bottles

Perceptions

physiological manipulation by corporate marketing firms try to convince us that

-safer, healthier, more convenient

-Athletes, celebrities, healthy people choose bottled water (8 glasses/day)

-clever use of language and labeling

• reliable, consistent quality, crispy, refreshing, zero calories, Ice mountains, Poland Spring

Bottled Water and Risk Analysis

risk assessment - bottled water is NOT safer or healthier than tap water

1999 Natural Resources Defense Council study found:

-1/3 of all bottled water is tap water from municipal sources

-unfounded health claims that it is safer or healthier

-self-regulated, self-testing industry

-Under FDA jurisdiction - provides loopholes and exemptions

Risk Perception - bottled water is “less risky” than tap, safer, healthier

Risk Communication - conveys technical information in an understandable way, leading to informed decision-making

Tap water -Risk perception problem:

(Characteristics of hazards)

-invisible risk (water quality)

-Not in control of treatment facilities

-we judge by taste and color

• if tap water tastes bad we associate that with poor quality - perception (Blind taste tests can’t distinguish)

-perceptions influence behavior - we buy bottled water

Environmental Cost, externalities

-produce 50M bottles/day (US)

-heavy use of resources, water, and oil to manufacture bottles

-each bottle - ¼ oil (17M barrels/year), twice the amount of water (30-40% is wasted)

-waste problem - only 15-30% bottles recycled.

• End up in landfills, incinerated or in oceans→cost to marine life

-120 grams GHG generated/bottle from transportation

• contributes to climate change

-Manufacturing plants - in surrounding communities

• high rates of cancer, from nitrites, benzene

-Consider the LCA of plastic bottles

-tragedy of the Commons

Privatization of Water (in wealthier and poorer countries)

Private responsibility of municipal sources and corporate profits

-Whoever buys the rights to a common good resource

• controls access to it

• controls price

-Corporate control can mean rate hikes, service interruptions and unequal access due to low profitable in poorer areas

Examples:

-Detroit cut off water to citizens, mostly African Americans, for not paying their bills, which have risen 120% in the last decade

-in developing countries, people to poor to buy water from private companies turn to untreated, polluted water to survive - 2M deaths /year from waterborne diseases (mostly children)

-Bangladesh - deforestation and flooding (climate change impact) water from ponds and ditches contaminated with human waste and agricultural and industrial pollutants