In a Year of Extremes, Water is Still the Essential Nutrient: The 2020 Global Water Drinks Awards

Not even a global pandemic can stop water from flowing. Due to Covid, the Global Water Drinks Awards and Congress, which was to be held live in Scotland in October 2020, went online for the first time in its near 20 year history. Formerly called the Global Bottled Water Awards, Zenith International, who run the Awards and Congress, decided to re-name it and take the necessary precautions to host it virtually. I have attended live conferences in past years and it’s an excellent opportunity to find out what is trending worldwide with packaged water, be that natural spring water, flavored waters or functional waters, of which the alkaline category is seeing tremendous global growth. Also showing strong performance are CBD, and collagen waters As the single most influential event for the global water drinks industry, the Congress typically attracts between 150 to 200 participants from all over the world, though more signed up for the virtual gathering. The event provides industry leaders, entrepreneurs, suppliers, customers and advisers with a complete overview of the water drinks market, current developments and what is trending. The theme for 2020 was “Beyond the Bottle,” reflecting a focus on innovation into water drinks, packaging, technology and broader business questions raised by the coronavirus pandemic. All five leading international producers gave presentations including Coca-Cola, Danone, Nestlé, Niagara Bottling, and PepsiCo. “We no longer talk about bottled water, since there are many packaging alternatives,” says Richard Hall, chairman of event organizers, Zenith Global, the food and drink experts. “There are also many product alternatives in added flavors and functions. And now companies are exploring opportunities beyond drink packaging in capsules and dispense,” he said. Hall also stated that global brand acquisitions in the water drinks sector more than doubled in 2020. Additionally, reflecting the growing packaged water landscape, the award categories (all listed below) have been expanded to accommodate current trends and market changes. These include CBD waters, social media initiatives and how its use helps promote a company’s water, and environmental and sustainability goals. For the awards, there were 160 entries across 16 categories from 27 countries. An award from this competition can not only help with distribution, but some past winners have seen an increase in sales of nearly 30%. Congratulations to the many winners listed below! Best Natural Still Water Concept Drinks – Pure Iceberg Lofoten Arctic Water – Lofoten Arctic Water Best Natural Sparkling Water Lofoten Arctic Water – Lofoten Arctic Water Best Flavored Water Flow Water Inc. – Flow Water Best Functional Water San Benedetto – San Benedetto SKINCARE Best CBD Water DrinkThreeDots – DrinkThreeDots Best New Brand/Brand Extension Flow Water Inc. – Flow Water Best New Water Concept Chicago Beverage LLC – ÈSSE Water LUQEL – LUQEL Water Station Excellence Best in Can Lofoten Arctic Water – Lofoten Arctic Water Best in Carton Drinks Cubed – Drinks Cubed The Happy Healthy Kids Co – WaWaah Water Best in Glass Jusqi – SPARKEAU Best in PET Kofola ČeskoSlovensko – Kláštorná Kalcia Best Packaging/Label Design Jusqi – SPARKEAU Best Cap/Closure Aptar Food + Beverage – Rocket : Next Generation Sport Cap Carpathian Springs – Aqua Carpatica Kids Best Technology Innovation LUQEL – LUQEL Water Station Excellence Best Marketing/Social Media Campaign Path – Pathwater Earth Day 2020 Best CSR Initiative Generation HOPE – HOPE IN A BOX

Book Review - Clean Water for Developing Countries

We take water for granted because we live in a society where water is plentiful and cheap, and remarkably clean. The United States, among many industrialized nations, does not have to deal with need for clean, sanitized, non-polluted drinking water that much of the globe must contend with on a daily basis.  In his book, Clean Water for Developing Countries, John Dracup writes:

“Protecting our water sources from toxins and pollutants requires relentless vigilance as water itself is uniquely vulnerable to contamination. As a universal solvent it is capable of dissolving more substances than any other liquid on earth. It’s also why water is so easily polluted.”

Though the book is technically based, it gives an amazing amount of practical information for anybody who wishes to look into providing water systems in needy areas. Dracup has taught water resource engineering, and hydrology at both the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Berkeley. And the author has traveled the globe installing these water systems so he knows firsthand the challenges, and the costs associated with them. Between 2011 and 2017 he was involved with clean water projects in Kenya, Peru, Honduras and Guatemala.

“The majority of those impacted by unsafe water live in isolated rural areas of the developing world,” he writes. “Cost, sustainability, cultural differences and acceptance by those who will use the water are all important factors in providing clean drinking water to these people. By far, the most successful water enhancements in developing countries are tied to community organizations, particularly among the female population.”

And if nothing else this book shows how important it is for clean water to be made available for every person on the face of this planet. Those of us fortunate to live in developed countries clearly don’t comprehend the challenges faced by millions of people on a daily basis to simply go and get water. I covered this very topic in my book Our World of Water: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly of Earth’s Most Critical Resource but the need is constant and will not go away. Clean Water provides detailed information, and case studies about the success of various modest water installation projects, which help bring water to rural areas affected by not only pollution, but urban development and expansion. If it doesn’t inspire you, then hopefully it will edify your understanding of water.

Clean Water for Developing Countries

By John A. Dracup, PhD

302 Pages

Clean Water Press, Santa Monica

$36.95

www.cleanwaterbook.com

Home Office Bottled Water Sees Growth and Decline

It’s easy to forget that bottled water is not just what consumers buy in the store as a single serving beverage. The home office delivery (HOD) segment of bottled water is, surprisingly, a fast growing segment.

The number of water dispensers (typically 5-gallon) in the United States has been growing by around 4% a year and topped 8 million HOD for the first time in 2019. Most water dispensers are located in workplaces, representing two-thirds of all installations. Other key locations for HOD are healthcare environments, hotels, restaurants and catering, and domestic/home use. Of those 8 million, 6 million were typical HOD, however about 2 million were fitted dispensers that filter municipal water at their point of use.

This caused revenue in the HOD segment to fall back by 1% to $4.1 billion after years of steady growth. Point of use dispensers have grown from under 1.4 million to over 2.1 million during the past 5 years to account for 26% of that market. The 5 leading players including DS Services, Culligan, Sparklettes and Primo (DS Services purchased Primo in March 2020 for $775 million) own just under 60% of the HOD segment. With the announcement that Nestlé Waters North America intends to divest its water dispenser business, the HOD segment will see significant changes.

Also forcing changes on the HOD market is the coronavirus pandemic, which is forecast to have a major effect on the market, causing a substantial decline of 13-20% throughout 2020, and then followed by a slow recovery, returning to growth most likely in 2021. Pandemic or not, water is crucial to everyone’s health and the bottled water industry will withstand the global economic variations

Purity Test: How Crystal Geyser Failed Its Own Commitment

I have been writing about water, generally, and bottled water, specifically, for 15 years: issues of legislation, conservation, and more importantly the purity of the water we drink.

I used to buy Crystal Geyser. But I don’t anymore. Here’s why.

Before I jump into this, please know that I have contacted Crystal Geyser (parent company is CG Roxane, they are privately held) many times over the years, and again for this article, and they have never once responded to me, this in spite of my being the senior editor at a well-known website within the bottled water community, BottledWaterWeb.

Anyhow, Crystal Geyser’s own website touts their partnerships, their new recycling plan, their environmental commitments:

“Since CG Roxane’s involvement began, over 760,000 volunteers have removed close to 12 million pounds of trash from California’s beaches and waterways, protecting wildlife and water quality.”

That sounds good. Except for the words “protecting…water quality.”

CG Roxane gets their water by drawing groundwater from the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This water contains naturally occurring arsenic. In my book Our World of Water: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Earth’s Most CriticalResource, I discuss at length that most natural waters - those coming from a naturally occurring source like an aquifer, stream, etc. - contain a host of things harmful to humans: arsenic, uranium, polonium 210, etc. These trace amounts are found in water because they are part of a natural soil and rock degradation chain and are logically found in water and soil. There’s no real issue with that, as long at any bottler removes those elements down to what is required by federal law - 10 Parts Per Billion, or PPB. (There is a growing movement, which I support, to get the federal limit down to at least 3 PPB.)

When Crystal Geyser draws from their watershed they use sand filters to reduce the arsenic so their bottled water would meet that 10 PPB. To maintain their filters, they back-flush the filters with a sodium hydroxide solution, which removes the arsenic but also generates arsenic-contaminated wastewater. Often, lined ponds are built near a facility and through evaporation, the left over arsenic remains as a solid. There are also chemicals that can be added to this type of wastewater to mitigate the arsenic. Ponds must be lined to prevent the toxic wastewater from polluting everything nearby. (In Our World of Water I cover extensively the Hinkley, California situation where toxic water was put into un-lined ponds and created devastation.)

For at least 14 years, CG Roxane discharged the arsenic-contaminated wastewater into a manmade pond at its Olancha facility along Highway 395 in California. Then in 2013, the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, who oversees water in that part of California, took a sample from that pond and informed CG Roxane the sample had an arsenic concentration that was more than eight times the hazardous waste limit, creating a risk to the area’s groundwater and wildlife. Two other samples, one by CG Roxane itself, also showed the concentration was well beyond the federal limit.

CG Roxane was given a list of preliminary violations, and required to remove the pond. They hired two companies to remove the hazardous waste and transport it…somewhere. Keep in mind, CG Roxane knew this was toxic material. The arsenic-contaminated wastewater was transported to a Southern California facility that was not authorized to receive or treat hazardous waste. So what to do with the toxic sludge? Well, the companies - United Pumping Services, Inc., and United Storm Water, Inc., - dumped more than 23,000 gallons of arsenic-tainted water into a sewer without appropriate treatment. CG Roxane pleaded guilty to two felony offenses - illegally storing and transporting hazardous waste - before a United States District Judge and was fined $5 million.

It’s important to know that this did not impact their bottled water. However, as a water company, they knew exactly what they were doing and cannot claim ignorance. That they willingly mistreated the environment in Olancha where the pond was, and by allowing the waste to be dumped in a sewer shows a callous disregard for their “commitment to the environment,” and that’s why the words at the beginning of this article, “protecting water quality,” ring hollow. Their behavior is unacceptable and I have decided to boycott this company. The best way to voice your opinion about a company is to no longer buy their product. But CG Roxane is not alone. Many companies we all know, and perhaps buy their products, routinely skirt environmental laws, simply pay a fine, and keep operating. I intend to post additional articles about other companies that do this.

And lastly…in a June 2019 report, Consumer Reports Magazine identified 11 brands of bottled water out of more than 130 that had detectable amounts of arsenic. “Of those, six had levels of 3 PPB or higher. The brands are Starkey (owned by Whole Foods), Peñafiel (owned by Keurig Dr Pepper), Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water, Volvic (owned by Danone), Crystal Creamery, and EartH₂O.”

If you’re buying bottled water, you need to know what’s in it. Demand better. Demand transparency.

Where Can Water Go? The Promise of Future Bottled Water Offerings

An ever increasing number of value-added bottled waters are flooding the U.S. market. Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) has identified 11 sectors of the overall bottled water market. Everything from protein waters to floral waters and spice waters have entered the market in recent years with more water concepts to follow. These new products all offer either functional or health and wellness benefits. But is there a place for a dearth of water in an already crowded market?

“In aggregate, these upstart segments totaled more than $100 million wholesale sales in 2019 and grew by more than 30%, and they are poised to have healthy growth over the next four years, though some are likely to sputter,” BMC states in their report. Plant waters are the biggest of the bunch accounting for about two thirds of sales of these new segments. Most of the other segments are small - under $10 million wholesale. These new segments join traditional value added water segments: enhanced, flavored, essence and alkaline waters. In no particular order, here are the 11 sub-categories of hr bottled water market that will show growth:

Plant Waters (Excluding coconut water)

Protein Waters

Detox Waters

Fiber Water

Probiotic Waters

Wine Waters (Non-alcoholic)

Flower/Floral Waters

Spice (Herbal) Waters

Weight Management Waters/Keto Water

Collagen (Beauty) Waters

Rain Waters

In predicting future growth through 2023, BMC states that every category will make gains, but the weakest are predicted to be rain waters, and floral waters, showing growth in single digits, but growth nonetheless. The most promising? Wine water with projected growth of 38%, probiotic waters (26%) and fiber waters with growth of 34%.

“Beverage marketers seeking to enter the water category have found traditional bottled water nearly impenetrable because it is dominated by low cost offerings from established companies. They’ve opted to enter the less price sensitive value-added water segment that is seemingly ripe for innovation and segmentation,” BMC says. These new water brands and segments may vary but have a number of things in common: premium pricing, functional or wellness attributes, natural ingredients, and use of water as a platform for innovation. That so many new waters are coming on-line only shows there is nothing to stop creativity and market share for bottled water.

Drinking in Dubai: The Global Bottled Water Conference and Awards

I have had the privilege of being associated with the Global Bottled Water Congress and Awards for several years, as a professional judge on the awards panel. With each passing year the Congress and Awards keep expanding, growing and reaching new consumers and trade. Nearly 300 people gathered to learn, network and better understand the global bottled water industry.

For 2019 the Conference and Awards were held in Dubai, which at first glance might seem an unlikely location for a water conference. “Dubai was an ideal location because it is at the heart of the Gulf region,” Richard Hall, Chairman of global food and drink experts, Zenith Global, which organizes the annual the Congress and Awards told me. “It’s also convenient for Asia and Africa as well as Europe and offers outstanding hospitality. It’s an important market and we were invited to visit two superb new $150 million plus product facilities, which offered very rare opportunity indeed.” Hall said.

As proof that the Zenith Congress is the single most important annual water conference, a list of the speakers confirm that. “It’s the strongest program we have ever assembled,” Hall told me. Speakers from the five largest bottled water companies presented their unique insights including Nestlé Waters Chief Executive Officer Maurizio Paternello. Also on stage were Groupe Danone Executive Vice President – Waters and Africa, Henri Bruxelles; Tim Brett, President of Coca-Cola Europe; PepsiCo Global Foods President and Chief Marketing Officer, Simon Lowden; and Niagara Bottling’s Executive Vice President – International, Rali Sanderson. Their messages were clear: the industry faces challenges but if those challenges are properly addressed, there is still significant growth potential, in spite of media bias and consolidation within the industry.

Awards were presented in15 categories including Best Technology Innovation, Best Packaging /Design, Best CSR Initiative (Corporate Social Responsibility) and others were award after the conference and during a special dinner. If you are in the industry or are considering getting into the bottled water industry, these annual conferences are highly recommended.

Zenith Global

The Winners


Best Natural Still Water

Cedea Srl – Dolomites’ Luxury Mineral Water

Best Natural Sparkling Water

Lofoten Arctic Water AS – Lofoten Arctic Sparkling

Water Best Flavored Water

1) Danone – Font Vella Levité Limón Zero

2) Flow Alkaline Spring Water – Flow organic cucumber + mint flavoured water 


Best Functional Water

WET Group (Beverages) – WECAN Alkaline CBD

Water Best Can

IDS Borjomi International – Borjomi The Best Festive Design

Best Carton

Stiftsquelle – LANDPARK BIO-QUELLE

Best Glass

Cedea Srl – Cedea Luxury Mineral Water

Best PET

Carpathian Spring – AQUA Carpatica

Best Packaging/Label Design

Cedea Srl – Dolomites’ Luxury Mineral Water

Best Cap/Closure

Lofoten Arctic Water AS – Lofoten Arctic Sparkling Water


Best Marketing/Social Media Campaign

JUST Goods – JUST Water Australia Launch


Best Corporate Social Resonsibility Initiative

1) Sociedade Águas Vumba, SA – Vumba Mountain Reforestation Project

2) Thunderbird Spirit Water – Thunderbird Spirit Water 


Best Technology Innovation

Birštono Mineraliniai Vandenys – Eco Pack by Akvile

Best New Brand/Brand Extension

Flow Alkaline Spring Water

Best New Water Concept

1) AQUAGEN Europe BV – AQUAGEN Deep Ocean Sparkling Water

2) Knajz Miloš – Aqua Viva Vitamin 

Evian – Of Water, Cows and Abundance

Evian – both the water and the town - suffer from nothing. It is one of the most widely recognized bottled waters on the planet and it’s a ridiculously beautiful place in France. But people still ask me about Evian's water source. "It comes from a natural spring in the town of Evian," I tell them. "No seriously, where do they get the water,” they ask. People seem to think that Evian water does not come from Evian but from…well, where exactly? So in October 2018 I was in Evian France and I went to the exact source of the water so I can explain it firsthand.

Plateau de Gavot

Set amid dairy farms, grasslands, strands of trees and crops is a 35 square kilometer (8,600 acre) piece of land, in essence a catchment basin, or more appropriately, a flat mesa called Plateau de Gavot. In reality it's a large table of land and it sits above the town of Evian. If you ever visit Evian via boat from Lausanne Switzerland this shelf is clearly visible from far away, which then drops off and curves down to the lake where the town and actual spring are both located. If you drive into town you don't notice it. It's on this land that the rains beat down and the water is absorbed into the dirt – glacial sand, clay, and gravel - seeping down between 100-200 meters (300-600 feet) then slowly makes its way under the hillside, taking about 15 years before it percolates to the surface at several natural springs, one of which you can actually visit.

One of Evian's geologists shows me Evian's water source

Standing atop the plateau on a bright, crisp October day, there is little that is remarkable about being here except for its own natural beauty. Sure, the dairy cows meander about (producing a well-known cheese known as Abondance – meaning “abundance,” which also alludes to the amount of water inside these hills), the bells around their necks jingling like an archaic GPS while hawks pierce the air overhead. There are rugged mountains in the distance – actually the inspiration for the mountains that appear on their label - but this particular place, well, it has nothing of significance that the eye can see.

Me, standing at the Plateau de Gavot

But like most water sources I have visited across the globe (Europe, China, U.S.), the real story about water is almost always what you don't see - what happens under our feet. Rain water travels about 10 miles through the plateau to the springs then the remaining water runs into Lake Geneva, picking up minerals and trace elements like calcium and manganese from the moraine soil and glacial sand. That water is bottled and labeled, “Evian,” because it comes from there, a unique spring that was  “discovered” in 1789, though like natural springs across the globe they have been around for thousands of years until someone stumbled upon them and realized they could make money.

Just outside of the town of Evian is their bottled water plant (photos are not allowed inside), which, if the buildings were laid end to end, would run the length of 13 football fields. Shipping your water to 140 countries and offering 30 different SKUs means you need a lot of space. It also means you're bottling constantly and the Evian bottled water plant runs all day, every day. The only time the machinery isn't running is for eight hours Saturday to Sunday when the bottling lines are being cleaned. The plant is like most bottled water plants, rather uninteresting in terms of blow molds and cases of product moving about on conveyor belts. Frankly, every bottled water plant I have visited are sterile and uninspiring. What I did find interesting to watch were their 30 AGVs - automatic guided vehicles - doing the work that fork lift drivers used to do. AGVs are like driverless cars but in this situation they pick up cases of water from the bottling line and deliver it to palates for shipping, pausing and waiting for other AGVs to pass at “intersections” where multiple vehicles meet at the same time. Though devoid of human interaction, there is nonetheless a delicate and rather beautiful ballet of technology happening on the ground.

One of the early water bottles from Evian's collection

You can visit the Evian plant - there's a small gift shop and museum showing what Evian bottles were like back in the day when the resort was initially a tourist destination where people “took the waters.” Aside from that you can also visit the spring, the place where Evian water actually does come from. A visit reaffirms that the best bottled waters come from a specific source, offering the taste of a unique fingerprint of soil, rain, rock and time.