New York

Bottled water pours resources down the drain
February 2, 2006 The global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion litres (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 per cent from the 98 billion litres onsumed five years earlier. Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing - producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more. At as much as $2.50 or £1.40 per litre ($10 or £6 per gallon), bottled water can cost more than petrol. The United States is the world's leading consumer of bottled water, with Americans drinking 26 billion litres in 2004, or approximately one 8-ounce glass per person every day.

Water wars break out as county pushes for authority
Get ready to filter your water ... Little did anyone suspect that this would mark the beginning of one of the most bitter issues of the decade: the notorious Avon water war.

Thirst Among Equals
As world leaders (except Dubya, of course) are gathering in South Africa for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, one of their prime topics is water. Protecting public water supplies from pollution? Well, that's not going quite as well as the booming profits of water purveyors. Water is being corporatized, conglomerated, shipped around the world, and marketed heavily to the affluent. We're being deluged with water, it seems. Manufactured water, that is. Hard to imagine that we're in the middle of an official "drought emergency" in New York City. But we are.