Fiji Water...The Celebrities Favourite

Very interesting programme on panorama last week about the bottled water industry that highlighted the enormous damage we are causing the environment and our planet by consuming such ridiculous amounts of it. They highlighted the case of Fiji water which has cornered the high end market in only a matter of years. It has become incredibly popular in the States and won't be long before the Masses are drinking it here in Europe but the damage that it is causing in beautiful Fiji is quite extraordinary. The programme highlighted the fact that there is this outstanding spring of immense quality within miles of villages that have people dying of diseases because of lack of clean water. Instead the water is being bottled at the source and transported 1000s of miles around the globe to sell for a small fortune. Having worked for the rich and famous for many a year I am used to seeing a trend emerge (it eventually filters down to us plebs!!) and without exception they are usually damaging to either a group of people or the environment.

What annoys me about Fiji water and indeed bottled water in general is that it is a total and utter luxury that is damaging the planet simply because marketing people have convinced us we should consume our water from small plastic bottles. Before the 1970s bottled water was practically unheard of and there certainly weren't people dropping dead from drinking tap water. Now are you telling me in the 21st century with all our technological advances and health and security measures that by drinking tap water we are going to keel over and die? The exact same filtering methods are used in producing bottled water as tap water and if you are that worried by a filter! I have been drinking it for a couple of weeks now without any problems whatsoever!

The problem is that with consumption increasing at scary rates (from 3.3 billion bottles in 1997 to 15 billion in 2002 in the USA alone) there is a certain laziness ingrained into our cultures to carry a plastic bottle around. Now i realise that it is an incredibly convenient option when on the move but use a bit of common sense and pour a jug of water and leave it in the fridge and drink from that, believe me you won't die. The big problem is celebrities who endorse this sort of water but just look at Marilyn Monroe and James Dean....they wouldn't have known what bottled water was if it smacked them in the head and they were gorgeous, so if you think that Fiji water is going to make you younger and have better skin like Christina then the world really is a sad place. Pour yourself a glass from the tap tonight and let the Fijians enjoy their own bloody water in the future without shipping it half way around the world for our deluded visions of grandeur.