fbpx

Most Tap Water Is Safe But Pepsi, Coke Make $Billions Bottling It While Residents Face Shutoffs

Most Tap Water Is Safe But Pepsi, Coke Make $Billions Bottling It While Residents Face Shutoffs

bottling
Most tap water is safe but Pepsi and Coke make billions bottling it while residents face shutoffs. Detroit’s water utility treats its customers unequally. Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash

Most bottled water sold in the U.S. comes from the same municipal sources as tap water, but people are hoarding bottled water during the coronavirus outbreak, making this an excellent time to be in the business.

Bottled water sales increased 57 percent in March over the same period in 2017, according to Consumer Reports.

In Detroit, many businesses were ordered closed by the state to combat the coronavirus pandemic but not the 262,000-square-foot Coca-Cola manufacturing facility, where Dasani is bottled. It generated more than $1 billion in U.S. sales in the past year, according to the market research firm IRI.

Coca-Cola said the government identified the food and beverage industry as “critical” to keeping grocery stores stocked.

U.S. water systems are required to be protected from contamination by viruses and other pathogens and generally use disinfectants such as chlorine, ozone, or ultra-violet light, according to the environmental advocacy group Natural Resources Defense Council. These processes remove and kill viruses including COVID-19.

Coca-Cola buys, treats and bottles municipal water before marking it up (up to 133 times, according to Consumer Reports) and selling it. Likewise, Pepsi bottles Aquafina the same way in Detroit.

Consumer Reports analyzed company water billing and usage records, and found inequalities in how water utilities treat their customers. It interviewed residents of Detroit, consumer advocates, environmental law experts and industry consultants, and examined hundreds of pages of billing and other records through public records requests.

Detroit has the highest population of African Americans for U.S. cities with 100,000 or more, at 84.3 percent, according to the U.S. Census.

The city’s public utility policy before the coronavirus crisis was to shut off water to residents who fall $150 behind on their water bills. About 2,800 homes were without running water when the pandemic started, according to Consumer Reports.

Detroit water bottlers also got behind on months worth of water bills to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, according to Consumer Reports. But their access to water was never shut off over the period under examination. The city cited the companies’ strong payment history and ability to pay their bills as reasons why. In a later statement, the city said it had made mistakes collecting past-due balances.

Consumer advocates say the companies’ business is subsidized by local taxpayers and bottlers should be taxed. Bottlers rely on the water supply, including the infrastructure and processing paid for by local taxpayers.

The city of Detroit says it has made progress restoring water for residents who called and asked for it during the pandemic, but a spokesperson said that some occupants may not have called. Advocates dispute the city’s reported progress.

However, utilities serving almost 40 percent of the U.S. population still have not agreed to suspend water shutoffs, according to Food & Water Watch, a Washington, D.C. group that focuses on corporate and government accountability relating to food, water, and corporate overreach. 

It’s not just happening in Detroit. Coca-Cola and Pepsi get water from other major cities with a history of shutting off water to residents before the coronavirus crisis, including Phoenix and Denver, Guardian reported.

“You should have a policy and should apply it equitably,” said Mary Grant, director of the Public Water for All Campaign at Food & Water Watch. “I think this is discrimination against low-income households in Detroit, that you’re having a shutoff policy and you’re not applying it, the same shutoff policy, to these big corporations because you expect them to pay down the road.”