2018/06: Should Australia ban the sale and production of bottled water?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: On March 15, 2018, CBC News reported on a global investigation that found the much of the bottled water tested was contaminated with tiny particles of plastic.What they said...
'We're lucky enough in Australia, to live in a country where we have an effective and efficient government, that is obligated to provide us with safe water. Water is a common resource, it should not be commodified'
Professor Gay Hawkins, Western Sydney University Social and Cultural Theory Department
'Any comparison of bottled water to tap water is absurd. Bottled water doesn't compete with tap water and has never claimed to. Bottled water competes with every other beverage it shares shelf space with... People willingly pay for the convenience of a zero kilojoule hydration option when they're out and about'
The Australian Bottled Water Institute, representing Australia's water bottlers
The issue at a glance
In March, 2018, a study was released revealing plastics contamination in the vast majority of bottled water brands tested.
The research was conducted on behalf of Orb Media, a United States-based non-profit journalism organisation. Professor Sherri Mason, a microplastics researcher, who carried out the laboratory work at the State University of New York, tested 259 bottles of water purchased in nine countries.
The 11 brands tested include the world's dominant suppliers - Nestle Pure Life, Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, San Pellegrino and Gerolsteiner - as well as major national brands across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Researchers found 93 per cent of all bottles tested contained some sort of microplastic, including polypropylene, polystyrene, nylon and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
In May, 2018, a bottled water contractor lodged a development application with the Gold Coast City Council to extract underground water, less than 700m from the world heritage-listed Springbrook National Park.
This application has met with local opposition as have numbers of other similar contracts around Australia allowing water bottlers to extract water which communities believe is needed to maintain the environment and for agriculture.
In July 2009, the town of Bundanoon, located in the southern highlands of New South Wales, became the first community in Australia and the world to ban the sale of plastic water bottles.
A range of pressure groups are pushing for similar bans. However, bottled water manufacturers and others maintain that such bans are unnecessary and that the problem has been over-stated.