More Bottled Water

This bottled water thing is getting deeper and deeper pholks, and I’m lovin’ it.

Perhaps you didn’t read the last column and my ramblings about some cities and groups saying that the bottled water is not all that great or special and in many cases is just plain old tap water. Well pholks, it turns out most of it is well water. Oh well.

Yes, this “regular water” and is just as good as the bottled stuff and a whole lot cheaper. Reach for the faucet, not your wallet when you get ready to swallow.

I’ve been vindicated in my contention that this whole bottled water thing is a farce.

A couple days after Miles was last Around, there were headlines and lead stories about the revelation that PespiCo. Inc., the world’s No. 2 beverage company, came out of the water closet and admitted that it’s Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water. The company is changing the Aquafina label to read “Public Water Source” on its product.

And Cola-Cola’s Dasani, it turns out, also is sourced from public reservoirs.

I ask you pholks is this another “Water” gate? We all know what happened when the truth came out in the Washington caper. This could be even bigger, but I really wouldn’t bet on it. I can say I told you so and, in fact, I have told some of you. You know you can trust me. Maybe someday you’ll listen.

I think it’s great that these water suppliers are coming clean. A high ranking PespsiCo executive announcing the “truth” said, “If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it’s a reasonable thing to do.”

Duh. Of course it’s the reasonable thing to do. It’s what should have been done a long time ago. If Dick Nixon would have come clean he would have gone done in history as a hero.

Not all the big name bottled water firms admit their product is just plain old domestic H20. Danone’s Evian and Nestle’s Poland Spring say their “spring waters” are shipped from  specific locations which have notable clean water.

I have not done any “real research” into this issue but I think it is interesting in checking out the facts about all this water. I have read that the industry is worth $8 billion, $11 billion and $15 billion annually. Pick a number, but remember it’s still a whole lot. New York City has launched a massive campaign for residents and visitors to give up bottled water and use the municipal tap water. Big name restaurants which featured bottled waters on their menus have “offed” them and now serve only tap water. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Ann Arbor, Mich., have prohibited the use of city funds to buy bottled water.

There are two sides to this issue, of course, with the bottled water industry maintaining that extra purification of their water makes it taste better and it is healthier…yatta, yatta, yatta. Environmentalist say those billions and billions of plastic bottles are cramming up already crammed up land fills and that water resources are being wasted for marketing of something not really needed…yatta, yatta, yatta. And consumer groups, generally siding with the environmentalists, say the water giants are getting way too fat with the profits which flow into the ledger books.

The more I look into this thing the harder time I have keeping a straight face. For instance, someone named Gigi Kellett is listed as director of the “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign which is urging people to drink tap water.

Having someone named Gigi heading a campaign with that name tells me something, but I’m not sure what it is.

Another story I found in my “research” quotes Dave Kolpak, a portfolio manager at Victory Capital Management, as stating that the environmental objections will have little impact on the bottom line for either PepsiCo or Coke admitting however it could slow the market’s growth rate.” He said Pepsi and Coke do not make a lot of profit on bottled water and that people will discuss the issue a lot but probably will continue to buy some bottled water. Victory Capital owns about 3 million shares of PespiCo. stock under its $62 billion management.

Kolpak, (like an icy container) pholks, is a proper name for a guy who helps manage Pepsi stock.

I tell you pholks, this water thing is crazy. I probably have enough material to flood the column space for weeks on end. I certainly have tapped into a deep source, but we all know what happens when we consume too much water.

So enough for now.

I gotta go.

Miles can be reached at mshuper@valleyvoicenewspaper.com