Is the Latest Eco-Term Just Corporate Hype?

By Jeff Conant, AlterNet. Posted December 1, 2008.

In other words, in practice, there is no neutrality, in carbon or in water. To suggest that any industry can completely offset its consumption of water, or any other resource may be attractive, but it is profoundly misleading, and sets a dangerous precedent for those engaged in authentic efforts towards sustainability.

Global consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, more than twice the rate of human population growth. According to the United Nations, if present consumption patterns continue, two-thirds of the world's population will live in water-stressed conditions by the year 2025. Currently, 12 percent of the world's population uses 85 percent of its water. The largest uses of water are for agriculture (70 percent) and industry (20 percent), with domestic use lagging far behind at 10 percent. According to The Economist magazine, "Five big food and beverage giants-Nestlé, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and Danone-consume almost 575 billion litres of water a year, enough to satisfy the daily water needs of every person on the planet."

Multinational corporations like Coke and Nestle would like us to think that they are doing their best to protect our water, going so far as to promote the health benefits of their products and pledging to steward our natural resources. But the fact is, these corporations produce non-essential sugary products with the single-minded goal of generating profit for their shareholders. In many cases their activities have come into direct conflict with local needs for drinking water and irrigation for subsistence agriculture. Even if these corporations meet the most rigorous efficiency goals they can impose on themselves, there is nothing "neutral" in earning profits from junk and bottling water for sale while communities go thirsty.

In considering water neutrality, it is important to recognize that not all uses of water are equal. For example, while agriculture is a larger water user than bottled water, much of the water used in farming is recycled and reused within the watershed. More importantly, the water is being used to grow food for people to eat. In contrast, Nestle, for example, extracts water to sell across the United States for more than the cost of gasoline, with no socially redeeming purpose. The fact that it can require as much as 60 ounces of water to produce a 20-ounce bottle of water should be enough to call "water neutrality" into question.

Lack of domestic access to water, for drinking, bathing, and washing, along with lack of sanitation, is the single most important cause of disease worldwide. Lack of clean drinking water leads to nearly 250 million cases of water-related disease each year and between 5 and 10 million deaths.

In this context, corporate claims of water neutrality are clearly cynical attempts to greenwash the inequities. Call it water use reduction, water use offsetting, or some other term that describes real efforts to minimize environmental impact. But "water neutral" is not a goal -- it is a distraction. With the climate crisis growing beyond our scientists' most grave predictions, and with 2.6 billion people worldwide already lacking access to safe drinking water, it's more important than ever to put real environmental protection before corporate profit.

When it comes to consumption of natural resources, there is no neutrality. That's why it's called consumption.

See more stories tagged with: water, bottled water, coke, water privatization, water neutral

Jeff Conant is the director of international programs for Food and Water Watch.

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