Conflict Of The Masses And The Classes: Reverse Osmosis Ampac USA

MONTCLAIR, Calif. - Jan. 22, 2018 - PRLog -- A bigger question is, where should a profit generating company's priorities lie? To sustainable future or monetary gain? Governing bodies all over the world have employed strict environmental regulations to ensure that industrial development does not come in the way of nature anymore. However, it seems the efforts are not enough as climate changes continue to rise. The cases of conflicts between communities and industrial giants can be seen all over the world with environmentalists and people questioning the exploitative ways of big companies.

One such case is the chocolate and beverage giant, Nestle, which has come in the line of fire from environmentalists and local authorities in two Canadian towns. A news confirmed from Government officials, it has outraged environmentalists who feel the bottling giant uses the natural resources just to add more plastic pollution. A boom in the demand for bottled water has led to big companies extracting water from natural resources to fulfil their ever-growing requirements. The company, however, is taking a firm stand mentioning its rights to extract water are fully intact. This comes after the Ontario Government made significant changes to regulations and policies almost a year ago for water extraction that are taking time to accommodate.

Bottling companies and water

Bottling companies require a major amount of natural freshwater to fulfill their need of the main component that makes their product. It is said that Nestle extracts 5 million liters per day from the source and packages it to be supplied outside. Such is the story with almost every bottling giant in the world. The companies put the water through reverse osmosis (https://www.ampac1.com/reverse-osmosis) to ensure the quality of the product. Companies usually do not prefer setting up seawater desalination (https://www.ampac1.com/products/seawater-desalination) plants over the coastal areas where the water is available in abundance and without any strict environmental laws. This is mainly because the cost of purifying the water takes away a big chunk of the manufacturing cost, either reducing the profits or increasing the risk of reduced sales due to higher costs. The companies, therefore, search for places where they can find water that doesn't need to be purified intensely.

Environment and community

It worked for some time but now the structure is not working for the community and the environment.

• In the case of Nestle, the levels in the aquifers from where the water is extracted fell by 1.5 meters whereas the company's pumping increased by 33%, all between 2011 and 2015.
• This has caused a massive outrage among those who live there and environmentalists as the community keep losing its resource.
• The company is using up the source faster than it can recharge itself, which is exploitation.
• Moreover, the fees paid is not enough for the authorities to keep monitoring the aquifers.

Nestle has ensured that it shares all of its sustainable plans and analyze data with the concerned authorities. But, a major point put forth by few of them is worth considering. The bottling plant extracts more water than the community does, packages it and sends it out for the use of other regions. Before this wouldn't have been an issue but now, the exploitation that has led to significant degradation of the water levels have pushed the community to protest. Many are of the view to use the water for industries that add value to the populace. Local agriculture and craft brewing can benefit from the source and can add to the economic growth.

Important statistics

The Ontario government increased the charge of extracting water for bottling companies including Nestle from a mere less than $4 to a whopping $503.71 per million litres. This is expected to cover the compensation for monitoring, managing the resource, research in science, policies as well as the community for providing access to aquifers. The question still lays unanswered though as to will this is enough to avoid major environmental catastrophe. Apart from the exploitation, the companies are also contributing plastic waste in huge amounts to the world that eventually land up in the oceans or landfills. More than 480 billion plastic bottles were sold in 2016 as compared to 300 billion over a decade ago. The population increase does not help either. With more than 5 million tonnes of plastic waste being dumped into the oceans each year, it is predicted that by 2050 there would be more plastic in the oceans than fishes. Companies all around the world are putting their resources to good use and developing sustainable educational and implementation programs to get plastics to be recyclable. This does not seem to be enough with a clock ticking and no significant progress towards making the goal a reality.

The topic of major concern still remains as it is. What use is all the money if the world will be rid of all the natural resources meant for our survival. Such cases of rifts between communities and big companies are increasing all around the world. These are said to be classic cases of "the need of the few are outweighed by the need of the many".

Author's Bio:

Ampac USA is a leading manufacturer of advanced reverse osmosis water treatment systems. For over 30 years the company has been providing its customers and clients around the world solutions to their water treatment problems. With years of an impressive track record, Ampac strives to develop solutions to make Reverse Osmosis Systems, advanced for improved quality and cost efficiency.