If I was asked to list the one product for sale in New Zealand that has exceeded all my expectations for success over the last decade I would have to say; bottled water. Without a doubt this has been one of the cleverest marketing strategies the world has ever seen!
However it is now very clear to me that not all success is a means for celebration.
To be honest, I am disappointed but not all that surprised by the success of this fad in New Zealand.
My disappointment stems from what used to be my unwavering belief that as a nation the greater majority of all New Zealand people were blessed with an unerring and enviable degree of common sense. Apparently this is not so. Disappointing.
My lack of surprise is quite natural considering that as a young nation we have always been keen to show the rest of the world how quick we are to develop, take on new ideas and technologies and to move forward and embrace those practices which other more developed and mature countries have already. Not surprising.
But…
For a country to which the preservation of purity on the planet is so important, we show an alarming disregard considering the amount of waste generated both in the transport of bottled water (water is bloody heavy!) and the re-cycling/disposal of the empty bottles (plastic is bloody hard to get rid of). All that without even getting started on the process that produces the bottles to begin with! Given the price of bottled water it is safe to assume that when paying for it you are in fact paying mostly for the bottle, thereby spending hard earned dollars in order to contribute to the growing worldwide problem of plastics waste.
It amuses me to hear that the main justification for drinking bottled water is twofold; taste and purity.
Just a small observation:
Water - 1 part hydrogen, 2 parts oxygen - Hellooooooo people! It would be a very safe bet to say that these two elements combine to produce the most flavorless substance that the average human will place in his or her mouth in a lifetime.
Pure water will only ever be available to the scientists that have at their disposal pure hydrogen and pure oxygen and the means by which to combine them within sterile containers at the ratio of 2/1!
Unlike these scientists the water the rest of us mere mortals will consume will have combined at the perfect 2/1 ratio somewhere in our already poisonous atmosphere. It will then have fallen through our polluted and germ filled sky to be collect in the heavy metal contaminated earth.
For crying out loud! – If it came from a spring it was stored in rock and dirt. If it came from a lake it was stored in a big rock bowl with dirt, algae, plant, fish and bird life living upon it. If it came from glaciers, guess what, it flowed down rivers made of dirt and rock that animals shit in!
Pure anything these days in the world of consumer foodstuffs is a fallacy; the best we can really hope for - is clean.
Do your own research, but I think you will find as I have already, that the taste difference comes solely down to:
A) Most importantly, how clean the container is that holds the water and the temperature of the water when consumed.
B) How much you believe the marketing or how much you want to believe the marketing that supports a bottled product.
C) How hard you try to identify any discernable taste.
(I believe C) to be important because the main concept behind the consumption of water is hydration – nothing more! Remember water is tasteless so why look for flavor, if you want flavor drink beer!)
It was interesting to note that while the suppliers of city water supplies are forced to operate under strict testing guidelines relating to purity (chlorine, fluoride and bacterial CFU’s) the same guidelines are not applied to the bottled water industry. In all comparison studies carried out to date, radically higher bacterial colony forming units were found in bottled samples, as opposed to samples taken during the regular testing of Auckland’s tap water! Now it is of course impossible to say for certain, but it could just be that the “better” taste you apparently experience when drinking bottled water may just come down to the level of fecal matter within it.
In case you were not already aware the reuse of plastic water bottles also poses a degree of risk. As it turns out, washing the bottles in hot water causes a breakdown of the plastic and subsequently the production of chemicals harmful to the human body.
I can understand a need for bottled water, believe me I can, I’m not that un-informed. But I live in Auckland, New Zealand not in Delhi, India or Chernobyl, Russia.
All in all it seems to me that with bottled water costing more than 1000 times the price of tap water, you would want a product 1000 times better.
I for one am a long way from being convinced that this will ever be the case.
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