Message in a bottle: Tap water just as good

Yet more Singaporeans turn to bottled water, thinking it is healthier
Tessa Wong, Straits Times 3 Nov 08;

IT IS cheap, clean and convenient. Why settle for plain tap water when bottled is better?

So Singaporeans must believe, as the country has nearly doubled its consumption of still bottled water in the last 10 years, outstripping population growth in the same period, which was 25 per cent.

Supermarket shelves are stocked with bottled water from as far away as Fiji and Serbia and costing up to three times more than common brands from Malaysia and Indonesia.

According to research company Euro-

monitor International, Singapore spent $98.3 million on still bottled water last year, a jump of nearly 30 per cent from five years ago.

While the 64.4 million litres of bottled water we glugged last year is but a small percentage of what we actually drink annually - experts estimate that volume at 4.19 billion litres - the amount has grown steadily over the last decade.

We now drink 80.7 per cent more bottled still water than we did in 1997.

Why the thirst? Analysts point to an increasingly mature market that is becoming more aware of bottled water's plus points, such as its convenience.

'It's easy to bring around, and seen as a cheaper alternative to soft drinks. Tap water is still not widely available in water coolers and dispensers in public areas, and nobody really wants to drink water from sinks in public toilets,' said Euromonitor's Asia-Pacific research manager, Mr Kelvin Chan.

US journalist Elizabeth Royte, who recently published a book on the bottled water industry, argues that the global trend is to drink bottled water, which is marketed as safer and healthier.

'People are responding to the idea that bottled water is somehow purer, or more natural,' said Ms Royte, who is the author of Bottlemania: How Water Went On Sale And Why We Bought It.

A case in point is university student Ian Ow, 21, who says he drinks only Evian water from France. He spends about $150 a month downing at least one 1.5-litre bottle a day.

'I know our water is relatively clean, but still, part of it is recycled water from the toilet bowl. I'm just not thrilled about that,' he said.

What he may not know is that bottled water may not exactly be that clean either.

Beverage companies have come under fire recently for dubious sources and water quality. Last month, the US non-profit Environmental Working Group found that 10 major brands of bottled water in the United States contained 39 pollutants, such as disinfection by-products, fertiliser residue and pain medication.

In the last five years, the Consumers Association of Singapore and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority received 17 complaints from the public about bottled water sold here. These included discomfort experienced after drinking the water, particles found floating in the water and unusual taste. One consumer even found a mosquito in a bottle of water.

Safety aside, there is no real need for people to drink bottled water for health reasons, said one expert.

Toxicologist Ong Choon Nam of the National University of Singapore said that while major brands do appear to have high amounts of minerals, Singapore's fortified tap water already contains 'acceptable' levels of minerals such as calcium and magnesium.

'Based on international studies, ideally we should consume at least 50mg to 60mg for calcium and 5mg to 10mg of magnesium per litre of water,' said Professor Ong, who is a member of the World Health Organisation's (WHO's) drinking water quality committee.

He pointed out that many bottled water brands on supermarket shelves in fact contained distilled water, which has little or no mineral content at all.

Plastic not so fantastic

BUT the big reason that environmental groups in the West have campaigned against bottled water of late is its carbon footprint.

The debate has centred on the resources used to produce, transport and refrigerate the bottles.

Why transport Fiji Water thousands of kilometres into supermarkets on the other side of the world when water is readily available at one's doorstep, activists have questioned.

Then there is the environmental impact of throwing away plastic bottles. According to the Earth Policy Institute, Americans dispose of more than 60 million plastic bottles per day, which require 1.5 million barrels of oil per year to manufacture.

Plastic bottles formed part of the 659,800 tonnes of plastic waste that Singapore generated last year, including industrial plastic waste generated by factories. Only 11 per cent was recycled.

There have been fledgling efforts to change this. Environmentalist group Eco Singapore recently launched an online campaign to reduce plastic wastage. It has collected 1,000 pledges from the public since the start of this year.

'Singaporeans should care (about this issue) because prices of water consumption, issues of proper waste management and sustainable resource usage will impede our daily lifestyle, both in our pockets and health, in time to come,' said Mr Wilson Ang, head of Eco Singapore.

There are also growing concerns about the ethics of bottled water.

'Part of the backlash in the United States against bottled water is moral, that something so essential to life shouldn't be bottled up and sold for enormous profit,' said Ms Royte.

In terms of safety and environmental impact, it seems that tap water does as good or a better job than bottled.

Said Mr Harry Seah, director of PUB's technology and water quality office: 'Our water is well within the WHO drinking water guidelines and it is safe to drink from the tap.'

It is a familiar message the public has heard countless times from the national water agency over the past two decades.

Still, judging from the bottled water sector's continued growth - Euromonitor projects that it will grow at 15.9 per cent from now till 2012 - such assurances may be increasingly falling on deaf ears.

Said church worker Katherine Chan, 38, who buys bottled water at least once a week: 'I still think to a large extent that bottled water's healthier than tap. Sometimes you're not sure if the taps are clean, but at least bottled water's got minerals and it's processed.'

Sales of water filters, purifiers on the rise
Straits Times 3 Nov 08;

ANOTHER sign that Singaporeans are becoming less willing to drink water straight from the tap: the burgeoning popularity of water filters.

Hardware stores and importers said consumers have been buying more filters and purifiers, which can cost anything from $40 to nearly $1,700.

Do-it-yourself chain Home-Fix, for instance, has seen a 30 per cent increase in sales between September last year and June this year, compared to a similar period the year before.

Rival chain Self-Fix has seen a 20 per cent increase in the last five years.

Both shops sell the low-end filters.

Importers of popular brands of filters such as Brita and Advante, as well as local company Osim, declined

to give figures, but said sales have been 'healthy' and are experiencing 'strong growth'.

Filters and purifiers currently available on the market are jug filters, tap attachments, refillable dispensers, and sink systems that give you drinking water from a separate tap. They employ various technologies, from carbon particles and natural mineral stones to reverse osmosis and electrolysis.

Even condominiums are jumping on the bandwagon. For instance, a new development called Lakeshore in Jurong features a water filter attached to each unit's kitchen sink.

But water expert and National University of Singapore toxicologist Ong Choon Nam, a member of the World Health Organisation's drinking water quality expert panel, says filters are unnecessary.

'Our tap water already exceeds international standards. If psychologically, people feel a filter makes their water better, then they could go ahead. But scientifically, I don't think it's going to add any additional benefit.'

He said that if not used appropriately, filters may end up contaminating water. For instance, pathogens and algae may grow on a filter if it is not maintained or used regularly.

'It doesn't really improve on the already high quality of our tap water, and you could end up with higher chances of contamination,' added Professor Ong.