United States consumer watchdog Public Citizen has a new publication monitoring the bottled water industry. One story, excerpted from the current issue, highlights how the city of Paris is promoting public tap water.
To mark World Water Day on March 22, Paris city officials launched a new campaign against bottled water by giving out thousands of specially made glass carafes to its citizens, urging them to use tap water again. The campaign is a joint effort between Paris officials and the publicly owned water company Eau de Paris. Their message is that the tap water is cheaper, more ecologically sound, and just as healthy as bottled water, so why pay more?
The glass carafes fit into the door of a fridge and have a push-on top, so they can be filled with tap water. Paris water has a mineral and sanitary quality that is just as good as anything you buy in a bottle. But it is between 100 and 200 times cheaper. It is delivered straight to your home. And there is no packaging, said Anne Le Stat, president of Eau de Paris.
Visit www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/new/aquabits/ to read the whole newsletter, published quarterly. Public Citizen has also published a new corporate profile on Veolia/US Filter, formerly known as Vivendi. Check it out at http://www.citizen.org/documents/Vivendi-USFilter.pdf