ISS Quiz- Chapter 15
In the last 20 years...
bottled water rate has quadrupled
What are the countries that have the highest bottled water consumption and why?
1. Not enough water (UAE) 2. Tradition (France&Italy) 3. Rapid urbanization (Mexico) 4. Convenience (United States)
The IPAT equation explains how population pressure is not the only factor that drives bottled water consumption... but so is
Affluence and Technology
How is bottled water marketed?
Clean and environmentally friendly
How is most water viewed?
Common property resource
Where does perceptual scarcity happen?
Developed countries such as the United States and Europe.
What are the three types of water scarcity?
Hydrological, Techno-economic, and perceptual
Neo-malthusians
I=PAT. Population matters, but so do other things
Purified water
Usually filtered municipal tap water. It is the most common
Overproduction of beverages
Industry creates so many beverages (pop, beer, wine), that it became difficult to increase demand. Creates a stagnant market Attempts to create demand thru. marketing and packaging Rich people will purchase a product they get for free
In the United States, tap water (EPA)...
Is more strictly regulated than bottled water (FDA)
What is the big question from a population viewpoint?
Is the bottled water boom a response to population driven-scarcity?
Is bottled water safer than tap water?
It depends. Tap water varies in quality. Most bottled water is packaged tap water meaning no real difference in scarcity
Bottling water has been around for thousands of years, but only recently...
It has been privitized and turned into a commodity (sold for profit)
Techno-economic scarcity
Lack of water due to infrastructure (pipes) or treatment
Do poorer residents have water coming out of their tap?
No
Hydrological scarcity
Not enough water to go around
What is the mineral water and the elite about?
People went to West Baden because they thought that the mineral water was healing and healthy
Privatization has consequences...
Privitization is common in underdeveloped countries, leaving many without access to clean and affordable water
Selling back to nature
Public water made private then sold back to citizens from whom it was taken. Surplus value created via exploitation of nature. (Nestle example in Michigan).
Where does techno-economic scarcity happen?
Rapidly urbanizing, under-developed areas such as Mexico and Flint
Why do people consume bottled water?
Reasons vary by location
People often use what to determine quality?
Taste and color
Malthus
There will not be enough resources for how many humans there are
Perceptual scarcity
Water is perceived to be scarce or hazardous even when there is widespread availability of portable water?
Primative accumulation
Water is taken and turned from a common resource into a commodity then sold back to people for profit
Cornocopian theory
When there are more people, there's more minds
Hydrological scarcity is usually associated with...
affluence and technology and you could purchase water through desalination (getting rid of salt) Example: Deserts, UAE
Risk assessment
could determine if bottled water is safer than tap water or if it is a matter of risk perception
What does the political economy oppose?
critical of water privitization. Water in the developing world from public utilities to "enterprise units" and private companies.
In industrialized countries, bottled water consumption is associated with...
health and wealth
Water has become...
increasingly expensive and privatized, despite its historically communal nature
There is a lot of fresh water available on Earth but...
it is not evenly distributed and is sometimes very polluted
After blind taste tests....
people complain less about public water (tap) BUT they don't reduce bottled water consumption (facts and numbers aren't enough)
In rich regions, bottled water consumption is associated with...
perceptual scarcity. Hence, the need for better risk communication.
But a life cycle analysis shows the environmental impacts in terms of:
production of bottles (for every kg of bottles, 2 kg of petroleum is needed) Transportation of water (it's heavy and requires lots of fossil fuels to transport) Bottles discarded improperly or in landfills (or even energy needed for recycling) Impact on local water supplies
In developing countries, bottled water is used to...
replace supplies that are becoming scarce, polluted, or privatized. It is linked to rapid urbanization
What do all of the scarcities have in common?
they are not mutually-exclusive meaning that just because you have one, does not mean you have the others
In just a few decades...
water has gone from an often free common resource to an expensive commodity. Why and how do we fix it?
