bottled water: the difference between value and price

BOTTLED WATER

Demonstrating the Difference between Value and Price

Or, in reference to Dominique’s presentation – are there goods

where we should not allow individual preferences to create

markets and prices? (for example, blood)

Global – about 160 Billion Liters a year, Growing at 10% per annum

Americans spent an estimated $11 billion last year drinking 31.4 billion liters of bottled water.

That means the average American consumed almost 106 liters of Dasani, Aquafina, Evian and hundreds of other brands -- more than any other commercial beverage except soda.

More than milk.

More than coffee.

More than beer.

Average Price of $1.80 per liter (premium imports up to $6 per liter).

Three times the cost of gasoline

Perhaps 1,000 times the cost of tap water?

Each year, about 2 million tons of PET bottles end up in landfills in the United States.

UK = about 40 liters/person in 2005, down by 6% in 2007

Bottled water is not a single commodity

France is Europe' s most valuable bottled water market, accounting for € 7.4 billion in 2010.

The only beverage sector which continues to grow:

About 22 billion liters of water are consumed outside their country of origin.

In the USA about 3% of bottled water is imported, a quantity growing at 20% per year.

Major Questions:

1.Does price = value?Is the aggregate utility provided by bottled

water to the population equal to the full cost of the resource?

2. Why are consumers willing to pay such a high price for a commodity which lacks objective qualities, for which a free substitute is widely available?

Does convenience explain demand?

Additional question posed by ecological economists:

What about the distortions caused by trading in virtual water?

WATER AND CULTURAL MEANING

St. Anne’s WellBuxton, UK

Emergence of water provides

MAGICHEALINGPURIFICATIONCONTACT to ANCESTORSTERROIR

Lourdes water10 cl

Resistance to commodification

A General Theory of Symbolic Power

MARY DOUGLAS:

Substances which move across physical and conceptual boundaries become powerful, dangerous, magical, related to health, thereforeresist commodification

Eg. Saliva, urine

The invention of the local, Spas and the aristocracy; healing and recreation in high style

Johann Jacob Schweppe (1740–1821)

A commodity which followed European colonization and commerce, at the frontier of consumer capitalism, new locations and a taste of home…

A TRIUMPH OF MARKETING

Health & Nature

NATURE +TECHNOLOGY=PURITY

Segmentation:Gender & Age

Sports water bottle holders

Blue, “boys” Sparkletts Sport Jr. water

A BOTTLE FOR EVERY DEMOGRAPHIC CATEGORY

Glace Iceberg Water

FineWaters Vintage

Sunday, 04 July 2004 23:00

Wine needs time to smooth out its tannin structure, but the quality of water is not determined by its age. Vintage does influence water, however. Very young waters like Hawaiian Springs and bottled rainwaters don’t have much time to absorb minerals, so they tend to have low TDS levels and hence light, clean tastes.Old water may feel more substantial, but Trinity and Fiji prove there are old waters with low levels of mineral content. The age of a water is less important than the local geology.The age of bottled waters should be noted, though, as an enjoyable part of their backstories, which add to the epicurean pleasure. Rain that fell when Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean more than 450 years ago is in the Fiji water you might drink today. Bottled rainwaters such as Cloud Juice, on the other hand, may be less than one week old.

De Luxe

Rules for matching water and food

The mouthfeel sensation of the whole dish should be matched with the carbonation level of the water. …

Loud, big, bold bubbles overpower subtle dishes, while Still water might be too great a contrast with crispy food.

An alternative epicurean pleasure can be achieved by carefully contrasting the mouthfeel of a dish with a water’s carbonation. Sushi with an Effervescent or even Light carbonated water is a perfect example.

http://www.finewaters.com/Newsletter/December_2007/Food,_Wine_Bottled_Water_at_the_Holiday_Party.asp

CONNOISSEURSHIP

YET, STUDIES SHOW

•MOST PEOPLE CANNOT TASTE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BOTTLED AND TAP WATER

•MOST PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE A ‘FAVORITE’ BOTTLED WATER AND BUY WHAT IS AVAILABLE

In 2006 the big four multinational bottled water companies spent $37.34 billion on advertising and marketing.

JUSTICE

WATER AS COMMON PROPERTY, A FREE GOOD WHICH FALLS FROM THE SKYA GIFT FROM GOD

Bottled water as both substance and symbol of the discourses of global sustainability and equity

2009 Bad Product Award to Dasani: Consumers International released the following statement:

“By bottling up this universal resource to sell back to us, corporations such as Coca-Cola have created a $100 billion industry at a time when one billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. Making profits out of increasingly fragile water supplies is unsustainable, irresponsible and against the basic rights of consumers everywhere.”

Water footprint, water debt, water crisis

Water for All! Why Churches Care | What's new | Presbyterians on Water

Learn about Water | General Articles | Privatization | Resources and Links What You Can Do | Thirst fi lm | Presbyterians for Restoring Creation

Sign me up for water news and alerts: The Presbyterian Global Eco-J ustice Listserv

Why Churches Care about Water

God’s creation is wonderfully complex, interdependent, and beautiful. The gifts of creation and the responsibility of its stewardship were given to all of humanity so that each would have access to its bounties. As God’s people, we are called to this task—respectfully taking care of God’s creation for its own sake, so that present and future generations may live on it and enjoy all of its fruits. [View or download the two-page theological foundations from the NCC]

Protest against a fashionable bottle: Water rights Campaigns at World Social Forum - From Lutheran World Relief NAIROBI, Kenya/GENEVA, 29 January 2007 (LWI) - It became fashionable for Linus Njoroge, a street boy at the 7th World Social Forum (WSF) in Nairobi, Kenya, to carry one bottle of water in his hip pocket and another in his hand.

A story in a glass of muddy water By Juan Michel - January 26, 2007; from the World Council of Churches "In my country [Uganda]," Ddamulira says, "you can't be refused water to drink. So I stopped by at this house and asked for a glass of water. A girl gave it to me. It was 50 percent mud."

WATER ACTIVISM AND WATER POLITICS

Duncan Goose, founder of One Water, set the ball rolling in 2005. All of the company's water profits are used to install PlayPumps, water pumps in African villages powered by children's roundabouts. As children play, clean water is pumped out of the ground into storage tanks for use by the community.

GLOBAL ECOLOGY

But…manufacture and transport of one liter of Fiji water to the USA uses 81g of fossil fuels, 720g of water, and emits 153g of greenhouse gassesAskpablo.com

Filtered through untouched virgin tropical volcanic rainforest, 3,000 miles from the nearest city. 1200 jobs for Fijians

Chris Jordan 2007 – 2 million beverage bottles, 5 minutes of US consumptionhttp://www.chrisjordan.com/

http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn2/#shark-teethhttp://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn/#plastic-bottles

Chris Jordan 2007 – 2 million beverage bottles, 5 minutes of US consumptionhttp://www.chrisjordan.com/

Bottled water is not itself all ‘bad’

+ it substitutes for fattening or hazardous soft drinks+ it can substitute for alcohol+ hydration is good for the health+ a simple source of comfort and convenience

- it is overpriced and gives profits to large corporations- it creates needless solid waste- uses fuel and produces greenhouse gasses- may deprive poor of access to water- turns a public resource into a private good