Press Release: Corporate Accountability International Supports Recommendations of the Environmental Working Group's 2011 Bottled Water Labeling Scorecard

January 6, 2011

A new report released today by Corporate Accountability International ally, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), confirms that the bottled water industry's record on transparency and product labeling is still all wet, even after years of pressure by consumers, advocacy organizations and public officials to change industry practice. 

"This new report by EWG clearly shows that relying on the bottled water industry to come clean on its own is not a bet worth making," said Kristin Urquiza, director of the Think Outside the Bottle Campaign.

A Congressional hearing in July 2009 exposed significant gaps in regulatory oversight of bottled water; in response, Congress subpoenaed major US water bottlers to provide water quality testing and labeling information. The new report found that roughly a year and half after this investigation began, most major water bottlers have failed to clearly identify the source of their water, how it is tested or treated, and what the testing results were. Many bottlers also fail to make this information easily available to consumers.  

In the past, bottlers have taken some steps to respond to members of the public that have called for greater transparency. In 2007, Pepsi agreed to print 'public water source' on its Aquafina brand labels in response to thousands of messages sent from people active with Corporate Accountability International's Think Outside the Bottle Campaign. A year later, Nestle took similar steps for its tap-water brand, Pure Life. However, both bottlers still have much more to do provide adequate information to consumers about the quality, sourcing and testing of their major bottled water brands. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola continues to be the laggard of the three major bottlers – its Dasani labels fail to disclose the source used for water bottling and the company provides little specific information about the quality testing results for its Dasani brand.

"Water bottlers are clearly having difficulty reading the writing on the wall or else there would already be clearer writing on their labels," said Leslie Samuelrich, chief of staff for Corporate Accountability International. "The public is calling on corporations like Coke to clearly label the source of its water and come clean about the quality of the water they bottle. State governments are calling for it. Congress is calling for it. The longer the industry avoids transparency, the more it forces the hand of civil servants to advocate the consumer's right to know."

The Think Outside the Bottle campaign is a public education and action campaign that is raising awareness about the social and environmental impacts of bottled water and is galvanizing support for strong public water systems.  

Since 2006, tens of thousands of people and hundreds of organizations have joined the Think Outside the Bottle Campaign, which has called on the bottled water industry to:

• Reveal the sources and sites of the water used for bottling;

• Publicly report breaches in bottled water quality, comparable to report by public water systems; and 

• Stop threatening local control of water when siting and operating bottled water plants.

Corporate Accountability International has been working with the Environmental Working Group, as well as other public interest organizations to push the bottled water industry to changes its practices, move decision-makers to strengthen oversight and protection of consumers' right to know, and build support for public funding for public water systems to ensure people have equitable access to safe and reliable water now and in the future.

For more information about the new scorecard by the Environmental Working Group, click here

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