An advertising campaign by the makers of Cristaline bottled water, implying that capital’s tap water is undrinkable and polluted, has angered the French Environment Minister, the Paris council and Green groups. The “campaign plays on imaginary fears”, said Anne Le Strat, a Green councillor and president of Eau de Paris, the city water authority. She referred to the fact that Cristaline draws its water from the same source used for tap water in the French port of St-Nazaire. Pierre Papillaud, president of Cristaline, said that the adverts were a response to a campaign by the Paris water authority claiming that tap water was just as good as bottled water, while being a 100 times cheaper [1].

In 2006, Rochdale Council saved GBP 6,500 (EUR 9,800) by axing biscuits from their meetings. Now the council plans to save another GBP 35,000 (EUR 53,000) by following the example of Liverpool and serving tap water instead of mineral water. Earlier, Sustain - the alliance for better food and farming representing 100 national public interest organisations, had urged all national government departments to use tap water instead of bottled water at all meetings [2].

[1] Bottled water: getting consumers back on tap water, Source Weekly, 17 Dec 2004

[2] Bottled water: growing opposition in the North, a business opportunity for the South, Source Weekly, 15 Jan 2007

Source: Charles Bremner, The Times, 19 Jan 2007 ; Bethan Dorsett, Manchester Evening News, 27 Jan 2006

Tags: information and communication, water distribution