Foreign companies taking billions of liters from UK aquifers to make bottled water | water

Foreign multinationals are extracting billions of liters of water from UK aquifers and selling it as bottled water, the Guardian has revealed.

Coca-Cola extracts the largest amount of fresh water of any drinks company in the UK, according to data obtained through freedom of information laws. The company holds a license to extract 1.59 billion liters of water per year from the Sidcup borehole in Kent for soft drinks. It also has the rights to take 377 million liters from Morpeth, Northumberland, to bottled water brands Glaceau Smartwater and Abbey Well.

French company Sources Alma is one of the biggest players in the UK water market, supplying bottled water to Tesco and Asda and producing its own Aqua Pura brand. Through its UK subsidiary Roxane, it has the rights to extract 1.5 billion liters a year from Armathwaite in Cumbria, where it bottles Tescos Ashbeck water. It also bottles a large amount of water from Staffordshire, which produces the Tescos Elmhurst brand, but the amount is not disclosed as the spring water is supplied by a third company, South Staffordshire Water plc.

Swiss giant Nestl Waters has the rights to extract a total of 880 million liters of water for its brands Buxton and Pure Life from sites in Derbyshire and Pembrokeshire, which it acquired from Welsh company Princes Gate in 2018.

Also in Derbyshire is Germany's Schwarz, which holds a license to bottle water for Lidl and produce 700 million liters a year. Meanwhile, French company Danone has acquired Harrogate Spring Water, which has a capacity to extract 460 million liters per year.

In Scotland the Highland Spring dominates. The license will allow the Speyside Glenlivet crown estate in the Scottish Highlands to consume 1.85 billion liters a year. Highland Spring is owned by Mahdi Al Tajir, a Bahrain-born billionaire businessman and Scotland's richest man. Highland Spring said it extracted only 32% of the permitted amount and found no noticeable impact on river and groundwater levels from the extraction.

According to the Natural Source Water Association, a UK trade body, bottled water makes up a very small proportion of all water extracted in the UK. In England it is 0.05%, in Scotland it is 0.2% and in Wales it is 0.08%. For natural water companies, the water they extract is a precious commodity at the heart of their operations, so they are very careful about how they use it, the statement said.

However, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN Special Rapporteur on Water, said that although the bottling industry uses relatively small amounts of water compared to other industries such as intensive agriculture or mining, the problem is that the bottling industry is taking the best quality water. He said. drinking water.

As reported in the Guardian, during droughts in Spain and Latin America, people have run out of drinking water and have had to buy bottled water from foreign companies that extract it on their own territory. Arrojo-Agudo says that in times of water scarcity, if governments prioritize concessions to private bottling companies, the availability of high-quality water for public supplies could be at risk.

During the hot British summer of 2022, farmers in Rudchurch, Wales, complained that they faced water restrictions while Nestlé continued to extract millions of liters of local water.

Nestl Waters said: Nestl is a founding member of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS). Our bottling site in Buxton was the first site in the UK to achieve the highest level of Platinum certification. The Princes Gate site in Pembrokeshire is scheduled to undergo an AWS audit in 2025.

The bottled water market is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few multinationals who have acquired more local brands. Five companies account for 83% of UK bottled water sales, according to consultant Zenith Global. Roxane (owned by Sources Alma) has a 38% market share, Nestl 14%, Highland Spring 12% and Danone 10%. Fifth, Shepley Spring, ultimately owned by US company Niagara Bottling LLC, has a 9% share of the UK market. The company, which operates through a third party, has the rights to extract almost 600 million liters a year from Yorkshire, where it bottles water for its own brands Ice Valley and White Rock, as well as Morrisons, Booker, Iceland and Amazon.

There are three types of bottled water in the UK. Products sold as natural mineral water and spring water must come from an underground natural water source and be bottled from that source. Unlike mineral water, spring water does not need to have guaranteed mineral content and can be treated to remove or add substances. Products sold as bottled water can come from a variety of sources, including tap water. The figures in this article do not include water taken from municipal public water systems, i.e. tap water.

Worldwide, Coca-Cola sells more bottled water than any other company, according to Euromonitor International. Nestls Pure Life is the single best selling brand.

The Environment Agency said: Bottled water permits are subject to strict conditions to ensure environmental protection. If there is a risk of environmental damage, we reserve the right to modify or cancel existing licenses. These licenses currently account for less than 1% of total abstraction licenses.

This article was revised on November 25, 2024. An earlier version described spring water company Shepley Spring as British-owned. In fact, the American company Niagara Bottling LLC owns the majority of the shares.

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