Water and Human Survival
The human body contains over 75% water. Water is the transport system that moves nutrients around the body as well and carries waste out of the body. Water breaks down food, keeps your body temperature balanced and keeps your skin elastic. We can live for weeks without food but only a few days without water.
Water on Our Planet
97% of all the water on our planet is in the oceans. The Atlantic, Arctic, Indian and Pacific oceans cover about 3/4 of the Earth. About 2% of the Earth's water is ice, 0.8% of water comes from groundwater and less than 0.2% is water from rivers, lakes, clouds and springs.
Water Usage
Since 97% of the Earth's water is salt water, which can only be used if processed by desalinization plants, and over 2% is part of the ice cap or polluted , there is less than 1% that is actually available for human use. In the home, 3/4 of the water is used in the bathroom. Letting water run while brushing teeth can increase daily usage by up to 20 gallons. Older toilets use up to 5 gallons of water per flush (low flow toilets use 3 1/2 gallons). During the drought of 1989 in California, many restaurants stopped serving water to their customers unless it was requested. It was considered better to have a dirty car and a brown lawn than to waste water. Bottled water became a necessary alternative to tap water because as the reservoirs got lower the concentration of minerals and chemicals increased at the tap and the taste deteriorated.
Not All Water Is Created Equally
To understand the various types of bottled waters one must scrutinize the label. In Europe all bottled mineral waters come from natural springs. A spring is simply water that flows naturally to the surface. In America waters labeled "spring water" may come from a spring source or from a bore hole adjacent to a spring. Some famous spring waters in America include Mountain Valley from Arkansas, Belmont Springs from Massachusetts, Saratoga from New York and Poland Spring from Maine. Artesian water is water from a well that taps a confined underground aquifer and in which the water level stands above the natural water table. Kentwood Springs from Louisiana is a well known artesian water. Well water is water from a drilled hole that taps the water of an aquifer. This water must be pumped to the surface. Tyler Mountain Water from West Virginia has a 108-foot well and Springsweet from New Mexico has a 220-foot well.
Water, Water Everywhere
Walk down a grocery aisle in any town in the US, Canada, Europe or Asia and there is a virtual tidal wave of bottled water brands. This $35 billion worldwide industry continues to grow as water quality concerns and fitness and health awareness increases. Bottled water sales in the U.S. rose 9.3% in 2000 to $5.7 billion, according to Beverage Marketing Corporation, a New York-based research and consulting firm.
PET bottled water sales in 2000 reached about 1.7 billion gallons and the segment is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of about 15% over the next five years, according to Beverage Marketing. In 2000, fruit beverage volume grew 1.4%, beer 0.8%, carbonated soft drinks 0.5% and bottled water 9.9%.
Bottled Water Industry Segmentation
Within the bottled water business there are two distinct industries and segmentations. The biggest by volume is the five gallon or returnable container business. Companies like Arrowhead, Sparkletts and Hinckley & Schmitt are leaders in this field. Often associated with the office cooler, bottlers also use two and one half as well as one gallon containers for supermarket distribution. This type of bottled water is sold as an alternative to tap water. Premium bottled waters, such as Evian, Vittel and Perrier, are sold as soft drink and alcohol alternatives. Packaging ranges from six ounce to two liters and from custom glass and PET plastic to aluminum cans. More and more bottled water producers have switched from glass to polycarbonate because of the increased acceptance of quality with this kind of packaging.
Bottled Water Industry Leaders
The leaders in the bottled water business, based on total estimated 1999 dollar sales (at wholesale), according to Beverage Marketing Corporation are:
Perrier Group of America 28.9%
Suntory 9.2%
McKesson Water Products Company 7.6%
Danone International 7.2%
Pepsi-Cola 5.5%
Crystal Geyser 2.9%
U.S. Filter 2.0%
Coca-Cola 1.4%
Aberfoyle Springs 1.4%
Glacier Water 1.1%
All Others 32.7%
All Others make up over 900 brands.
The leading brands for 1999 are:
1. Poland Spring $406.2 million 7.8% market share
2. Arrowhead $315.0 million 6.0% market share
3. Aquafina $289, 5.5%
4. Sparkletts $246.5 million 4.7% market share
5. Evian $219 million 4.2% market share
6. Deer Park $167.4 million 3.2% market share
7. Crystal Springs $157.4 million 3.0% market share
8. Alpine Spring $151.4 million, 2.9% market share
9. Zephyrills $147.5 million 2.8% market share
10. Ozarka $144.6 million 2.7% market share
