When the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) began to consider the option of bottling its
own water, the Board retained Malcolm Pirnie to help assess the viability and determine the
appropriate justification, if any, for a BWWB municipal bottled water operation. Consequently,
a survey was developed to gather information from approximately 20 other utilities that had
either previously studied bottling municipal water or which were currently engaged in such a
bottling operation. The survey was designed to be as comprehensive as possible and included
such issues as (among others): the utility's primary motive for bottling water; cost (capital and
operating); product distribution and sales (if applicable); treatment; product labeling; in-house
vs. outsourced bottling; project delivery method (i.e., design-bid-build, design-build, design-build-
operate, etc.); and state and federal regulations.
One of the most unexpected finds of the survey was that a number of the utilities contacted were
not only very interested in the results of the survey themselves, but had also contacted some of
the other surveyed utilities independently to gather information about municipal bottled water in
a similar manner, albeit via a less comprehensive process. Interest was particularly high among
those utilities that were still in the study phase and considering the advantages and disadvantages
of bottling municipal water. This paper presents the results of this survey
and the insights it revealed to serve as a resource for other utilities that might be weighing the
pros and cons of municipal bottled water operations. The paper discusses the most significant findings of the survey that were grouped into five categories including:
purpose of the Municipal Bottled Water Program;
owning bottling facilities vs. outsourcing;
bottled water treatment processes;
sizes of bottles produced; and,
cost.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 160 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 5 |
| Published : | 06/17/2004 |
