Middle & Upper Schools Watch Tapped Documentary

In an October assembly, the Middle and Upper School watched “Tapped,” a documentary about the bottled water industry. It brought up ethical issues, financial practicalities, and environmental implications that stem from our nation’s penchant for this individualized, convenient, cheap, and disposable packaged liquid. Successful marketing schemes have led consumers to spend 1,900 times more money on bottled water and has also resulted in a distrust of the virtually free water from their faucets. This is despite the fact that public drinking water is subject to strict regulation and regular testing, while bottled water is self-regulated by the companies and not required to submit test results. In fact, 40% of all bottled water is simply filtered tap water.
 

 

With only 1% of the Earth’s surface water potable, bottled water companies are “water-mining” in many regions. This means they are taking municipal water for free and then selling it back to the community at a profit. The town gets no money, and in many cases, the residents must contend with water shortages and environmental degradation. The World Bank estimates the worth of the world water market at $800 billion, with very little if any of the company’s profits going to help the mess that the bottled water industry creates – plastic in the ocean and soil, cancer causing agents in water test results, exacerbation of droughts in certain areas, etc.
 

 

The film highlighted the notion that water is a human right, and we should be protecting public water supplies instead of allowing private enterprise to exploit them. It also brings up the far-reaching consequences that stem from the plastic container production, the water gathering, and the throwaway nature of bottled water. It was a very informative, well-researched documentary, made by a journalism graduate of NYU, who has worked on both political sides of the media (20/20, ABC network, Fox News Channel, The O’Reilly Factor).