The “Films For Thought” film series for the Year of Sustainability continues with Tapped in Hopwood Auditorium at 6 p.m.
Given the startling statistic that Americans consume 80 million single-serving bottles of water per day, it’s no surprise to learn the product is plagued by a firestorm of corporate, health-related, and sociopolitical issues.
More shocking is that while municipal water supplies are highly regulated, bottled water (40 percent of which, the film states, is simply purified tap product) is subject to little or no oversight, helping give such deep-pocketed bottlers as Nestle, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi further license to run roughshod over community, and medical and environmental concerns.
And, “Tapped” contends there is much to be concerned about, from the toxins that can exist in pre-packaged water to the dangers lurking within the crude oil-derived plastic bottling itself.
“Stephanie Soechtig’s cautionary tale is supported by interviews with a variety of activists, environmentalists, community leaders and, especially, several small-town residents whose health and welfare have been compromised by the encroachment of the bottled water industry. If their stories don’t persuade you to ditch the Dasani, vivid shots of how water bottle refuse is turning our oceans into “plastic soup” should do the trick.” — Gary Goldstein (LA Times)