Guess what the world’s fastest growing commercial beverage is? If you named one of the branded fizzy drinks, or even tea or coffee, you would be far off the mark. The highest profits come from (hold your breath)  the sale of bottled drinking water.

A report from the Worldwatch Institute estimated last week that global consumption of bottled water  doubled in the last ten years, while Indians have tripled their demand for bottled water in less than seven years. It’s become almost a status symbol  among our urban residents, especially the younger generation  – to be seen carrying a branded bottle is to proclaim that one is wary of drinking from a lowly tap (or restaurant) and that one can afford to pay for the stuff, and that one is ‘‘above’’ the standards of cleanliness that the rest of us have to survive with.

Carrying bottled (branded) water  used to be something that only visiting tourists from overseas resorted to, now no meeting, even of NGOs devoted to “mass uplift and poverty alleviation” or corporation event for ‘‘public interaction’’ to discuss ‘‘basic needs’’   is complete without a row of bottles on the stage  for the ‘‘dignitaries’’ or officials  invited as speakers.

The Worldwatch Institute bulletin put out last week points out that the growth of the bottled water industry spells doom for the environment, because excessive extraction of  groundwater threatens streams and other sources. If something that is a vital need for sustaining not just human lives but also plant and animal resources, gets appropriated for private commercial profit, that too for the benefit of that small section of the population that can afford to pay for it, then there is something seriously wrong in our priorities in governance, our lifestyles and the ethics that dictate our choices.

As this report points out, it is not just the extraction of water for commercial marketing, it is also the process of bottling that spells a disaster-in-the-making – the environmental mess created by the manufacturing process for plastic (PET) bottles, the empties thrown away as waste (annually, two million tonnes of empty bottles end up in landfills in the US alone; think of the worldwide figure, as bottled water becomes the ‘‘fashion’’).

Bottled water is anywhere from 240 to  10,000 times more expensive than tap water (think of the price one pays, for a bottle at fancy malls!) but billions worth of the stuff is still bought globally, to make bottled water the “world’s fastest growing commercial beverage”.

True, one doesn’t want to risk illnesses by drinking tap water (73 million work days are lost in India due to water-related sicknesses, and every 15 seconds a child dies of some water-related disease) but the solution lies not in opting for bottled water but to mobilise public action to ensure safe drinking water for all citizens as a basic human right. Otherwise we as a society become no better than the French queen who wondered why the populace didn’t go for cake if there was no bread to appease hunger. “Let ’em eat cake” is cited as an example of feudal arrogance – but “let us opt for bottled water” is not far behind in terms of social arrogance and apathy. It’s estimated that 30 per cent of Bangalore’s residents lack reliable water supplies. We had a day-long workshop on challenges pertaining to water supplies at the National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) in March. The state government has announced this week an allocation of Rs 488 crore for 41 different water schemes. But how exactly do these monies get spent, who represents public vigilance, how much of the benefits accrue in reality, to the population?

These are questions we, the urban educated middle classes, rarely worry ourselves over – and that makes for lack of accountability, corruption and waste of precious funds. If safety is the first of our four basic rights as consumers, drinking water is where we should be focusing on. By buying bottled water we are all saying, “Let’s eat cake…”

Hansson Day
In five days, health activists around the world will be observing Olle Hansson Day in honour of the Swedish pediatrician-neurologist who died on May 23, 1985. He was only 49 but   had won admiration for his dedicated work towards getting irrational drugs banned, particularly after the tragedy of SMON (subacute myelo-optic neuropathy) that left thousands of victims  in Japan and elsewhere paralysed or blinded after taking the anti-diarrhoeal drug clioquinol. Hansson “represented the conscience of the medical profession” when he became an activist protesting against unethical marketing and promotion of drugs.
An annual Olle Hansson award is given to recognise an individual from a developing country who has  worked for the promotion of rational drug use and ethics in marketing medicines. The first Hansson award was given in 1987, so 2007 marks the twentieth anniversary of this award. This year’s winner will be announced at a ceremony in Sweden next week. Previous winners include an Indian and a Sri Lankan, but  the sad part is that such activists seldom receive the kind of media attention  and support that is their due, unless and until a Swedish or other “phoren” award comes their way.