The bottled-water industry has taken a knock over claims that its product is bad for the environment. Now it’s fighting back.

Aug. 2, 2007 - It’s been a tough summer for the bottled-water industry. In June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, led by San Francisco’s Gavin Newsom, passed a resolution calling for a study of the negative environmental impact of bottled water and praising the high quality of municipal tap water. In July, under pressure from environmental activists, Pepsico announced it would begin adding “source labels” to bottles of Aquafina, making it clearer to consumers that the stuff inside is merely tap water that’s been subjected to extra purification. And in the July issue of Fast Company magazine, award-winning writer Charles Fishman penned a highly critical story about Americans’ $16 billion-a-year bottled-water habit, which he calls an “indulgence” in a world in which 1 billion people lack access to dependable water sources. “When a whole industry grows up around supplying us with something we don't need—when a whole industry is built on the packaging and the presentation—it's worth asking how that happened, and what the impact is,” Fishman writes.
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