Some interesting facts about bottled water

https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5265946/global-bottled-water-market-by-product-purified?utm_source=BW&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_code=bzl2bm&utm_campaign=1521335+-+Global+Bottled+Water+Industry+Analysis+and+Forecast+2020-2026+-+Nestle%2c+PepsiCo%2c+and+The+Coca+Cola+Company+are+the+Forerunners+of+the+Market&utm_exec=joca220prd

This is some interesting information I have been digging up about our water consumption. This article was quite enlightening.

First off, we have this. The biggest suppliers of bottled water are Coca Cola, Nestle, and PepsiCo. But notice that orange dot…..Otsuka Pharmaceuticals? Why does a drug company own a large stake as the 5th largest bottled water supplier?

Most of us do not know that bottled water has been monopolized the same way that mainstream media was eventually whittled down to 6 companies owning all media.

In 2017, Coca Cola acquired Daisani and Glaceau water. In 2018, Nestle Waters acquired a majority stake in Princes Gate Spring Water Ltd., a bottled water manufacturer. In 2020, Primo Water acquired Mountain Valley Water Company. It is still sold under the Mountain Valley name, but they do not own it any longer. Same with Daisani. It retains the original branding, but owned by Coca Cola. Primo Water wasn’t done though. In 2020, Primo Water Corporation took over the Mountain Glacier, manufacturer of bottled water. The customers of Mountain Glacier in Nashville can enjoy Crystal Spring, along with that, Harlingen, TX can enjoy Sparkletts. Also in 2020, Danone (who owns Evian water) completed its acquisition of Harrogate Water Brands, the British bottled water brand. The acquisition strengthened Danone Waters' position in the UK.

Danone joined up with PepsiCo in 2020 to distribute Evian in the US and Canada. This gave them direct to store delivery. They also partnered with SBE, a hospitality group, to ensure Evian was the “preferred” water brand in all properties owned by SBE.

See how the “little guys” companies were gobbled up but the big boys?

This one is the most intriguing though. Jan-2021: Otsuka Pharmaceutical introduced label-free PET bottle versions of POCARI SWEAT and POCARI SWEAT ION WATER through e-commerce platforms. These products can be accessible in 300ml label-free bottles in units of 24 bottles per case. So I went digging further. Otsuka also owns Crystal Geyser water company. Then I came across this: https://www.otsuka.co.jp/en/nutraceutical/about/rehydration/water/

SO I ask the following: what is a pharmaceutical company doing in the water business? When we did our deep dive of pharma companies, Otsuka was NOT one of the companies on the covid alliance squad. That doesn’t mean they are clean and good by any means, but they were not the dirty that Takeda and AbbVie and Glaxo Smith Kline are. I am very familiar with Otsuka, they are the producer of the drug Rexulti, primarily used for depression. They are now in the business of “ion water”, which is similar to a sports drink for rehydration. They launched this water based on their “rehydration IV labs” success. https://www.otsuka.co.jp/en/nutraceutical/about/rehydration/ionsupply/

What does this mean? Honestly, I am not entirely sure. But we have discussed our drinking water a lot on here. We discussed the hypothesis of our public water being “contaminated” during times of peak illness, which I noticed on my reverse osmosis machine last fall/winter. The quality of the water going into the machine was exponentially worse during the October-January stretch last winter, when coincidentally, millions of people were sick with various illnesses. Many American’s have adopted bottled water as their water of choice versus tap water. My question is, with the monopoly on the bottled water company, and a pharma company owning a large share of the bottled water market………is our bottled water safe? Why have the big boys gobbled up the smaller companies? Why did so many buyouts happen between 2017-2020? Questions I hope to find more answers about.