Campaign Update
 July 27, 2007 - Your calls and emails made a difference! Pepsi agrees to reveal source of Aquafina bottled water.
Click here to read our press release.
Aquafib logo: Rebranding of this product is credited to the Polaris Institute. Truth in advertising will set you free.
June 13, 2007 - Polaris Institute launches a new website on the campaign challenging bottled water
Insidethebottle.org will chronicle community, student, labor and legislative action to fight water bottling companies around the world. The homepage features a slide show on bottled water issues: environmental destruction, marketing ploys, price gauging, etc. The mapping page uses Google maps technology to track bottling plants and distribute information about their water takings and operations. Users will add more information about bottling plants and bottled water actions in their communities.
June 7, 2007 - Coca-Cola Extends Its Corporate Control of Water
Coke’s public relations department is aggressively pushing the company’s recent announcement that it will spend $20 million over the next three years to improve its water conservation practices. Acting in partnership with World Wildlife Fund, Coke promises to Reduce the water it uses in operations, to treat its wastewater so that it may be safely Recycled for other industrial or agricultural uses and to Replace every drop of water it uses through new water conservation efforts in seven major river basins in the world. Coke’s announcement continues to fail to address the importance of respecting public control of water, and further entrenches the company’s practice of taking water wherever it serves the company’s interests to do so, and replacing water wherever the corporation sees fit. To take water from communities in India and replace the water through river conservation in Texas, does nothing to resolve the growing water crisis in the world. The $7 million a year, Coke will spend on this initiative pales in comparison to the $1.7 billion that Coke spends advertising its products throughout the globe. Coke’s investment in its World Wildlife Fund partnership represents less than one-half of one percent of what it spends on marketing – truly a drop in the bucket.
May 2007 - Coke faces new product contamination problems
Less than a month after Coke CEO Neville Isdell urged shareholders gathered at the company’s annual to vote against a proposal brought by Corporate Accountability International on disclosure of safety testing information, Coke is once again in the news with two product contamination cases half a world apart. Isdell promised shareholders that Coke’s quality processes were among the best in the world. And yet, those processes did not protect Coke’s US customers who faced potential exposure to carcinogenic benzene before products were reformulated after several customers filed suit last summer. In settling the case this week, Coke did not admit guilt, but paid damages and legal costs for the plaintiffs and agreed to provide coupons to other customers who may have purchased the tainted soft drinks. Then, news broke this week that Coke recalled a large amount of its Fanta products in Vietnam in March. The Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology reported testing the product and finding 35 times the allowable level of chlorine. Coke disputes the findings, saying that the problem was related to paperwork, though acknowledges its testing results have not yet been returned. The Vietnamese government has ordered an investigation into the recall.
May 9 2007 - Tap Water Challenges Spread During National Drinking Water Week
Greenwood Utilities in Greenwood, Mississippi kicked off National Drinking Water Week with a water tasting on Monday featuring six volunteer taste testers – among them the local fire chief, and the heads of the local chamber of commerce and an area correctional facility. Each sampled Greenwood tap water, and samples of Aquafina, Evian, and Dasani from anonymous carafes Five of the six testers picked Greenwood water over the bottled water. Greenwood utilities superintendent Jamie Stowers said that ‘we’ve got the best water in the state’ and that ‘bottled water is not as regulated as their water. Jean Cadney, Greenwood Utilities business development specialist was quoted saying, “The bottled water industry is making $10 billion a year, and it comes out of a tap somewhere.” The utility is strongly encouraged residents to drink only tap water on Tap Water Day – May 9th.
April 19 2007 - Nestlé Call-in Day
Thursday, April 19th, is Nestlé's annual shareholders' meeting and your chance to join with other activists and local communities around the country in standing up to Nestlé!
Make your voice heard with a quick phone call to Nestlé. Click here for the phone number to call and a script to help make your call faster and easier!
March 22 2007 - More than 60 right-to-water protestors arrested in New Delhi
On March 22, World Water Day, hundreds of peaceful protestors gathered in New Delhi to protest the privatization and appropriation of water resources that is leading to deprivation and water scarcity. Leaders of national movements and people from communities came together hoping to enter into dialogue with the Planning Commission Members and Deputy Chairperson Mr. Ahluwalia about their access to water resources. While they waited for an appointment, the police arrested more than 60 people.
According to those involved, these arrests were not about violations of the law. Rather, it was a coordinated and concerted attempt to prevent the democratic protest of the current water policies and an effort to discourage others who dare to raise their voice.
People around the world are standing in solidarity with the right-to-water protestors and are asking that the Planning Commission to take immediate action to ensure the release of those detained, that the police withdraw the cases against the protestors and that the Planning Commission enter into a dialogue on the issues of national concern that the people came to present.
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