My name is Sister Sharon Dillon, and I am the Executive Director of the Franciscan Federation of the United States, with over 100,000 members and associates. This summer, our faith network representing Franciscans in the United States adopted a resolution to work to protect the waters entrusted to us, and to act to ensure that governments meet the responsibility of providing access to clean and safe water, something we view as a free gift from God.

In light of the water crisis facing our world today, we are eager to collaborate with agencies and organizations that pursue both increasing access to water and maintenance and improvement of the public infrastructure that provides this fundamental need. Water is a sacred gift and, as Franciscans, we address Water as our Sister.

Coca-Cola purports to also work toward solving the global water problem. Through sponsoring a social hour at the recent EPA summit in Atlanta, Georgia, and promoting its work in a sprinkling of communities in the developing world, Coke tries to portray itself as an ally in the effort to extend water access to all. Therefore, I’d like to present a challenge as I view the reality as very different. The Coca-Cola Company is contributing to the growing problem of corporations turning our natural resource of water into a profit-driven commodity. Coke spends millions of dollars on marketing each year to make people doubt the quality of their own tap water, undermining people’s confidence in public water systems. One example is Coke’s Dasani goldfish TV ads say, “It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality,” and depicts Dasani bottles as the high-end alternative to indoor water coolers as well as tap water.

Coke’s aggressive marketing changes the very way people think about water. Last December, I attended an EPA listening session on whether bottled water should be considered as an alternative compliance mechanism for certain water systems that suffer from chronic contamination. For-profit water bottlers are moving in on our public water systems, undermining the case for improving our public water infrastructure.

The Franciscan Federation stands with other faith communities, student groups and community activists who are organizing to protect public water systems and to challenge corporate control of our water. We are working at generating awareness and collecting thousands of public comments throughout the country to expose the growing phenomena of corporation control of this precious natural resource. Water is a fundamental human right and a God-given gift, not a privilege left for those who can afford to buy it for exorbitant prices.

Coca-Cola denies that bottled water is displacing public water consumption and support, but continues to market Dasani as better than tap water even though you use municipal water as your source.  I ask you, Mr. Isdell, if Coca-Cola is not promoting expensive bottled water over public water systems, why won’t you reveal the sources and sites of the water used for bottling?

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