News & Media

News & Media

Oct 2, 2008

Governator Vetoes 2 Bills; A Win For Consumers And Water Bottlers

Bottled Water Bill

On September 30, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill introduced by Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes (D-Arleta) that would have mandated California bottled water companies to report to the California Department of Public Health the quantity of water used for bottling. In addition, it would have required the CDPH to make those reports publicly available.

IBWA and the California Bottled Water Association objected to this bill because it singled out the bottled water industry to report its water withdrawals and disclose publicly the location of water sources.  IBWA and CBWA attempted to work with Assemblyman Fuentes to amend the legislation to permit total bottled water withdrawal reporting without site-specific information, but the final version did not incorporate the changes that both associations could support.

In his veto message, Gov. Schwarzenegger indicated this bill was not a priority for the state; therefore, he vetoed it.

Water Softener Bill

In addition, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have required the Department of Water Resources to establish statewide water-recycling targets every five years.  It would have enabled local governments to exert greater control over salinity discharges into their sewer systems, including those from water softeners. If a local agency adopted an ordinance requiring the removal of a water softener, the local agency would have been required to provide a program to compensate owners, as determined by a local agency.

In his veto message, the Governor stated, “…current law already includes provisions that allow local agencies to regulate water softeners. The provisions of this bill create a system that could unduly limit choices for consumers and small water systems, with potentially little positive impact given the relatively limited contribution of water softeners to our salinity problems.” 

The Water Quality Association and the Pacific Water Quality Association has lobbied against the measure and had urged the Governor to veto it.

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is the authoritative source of information about all types of bottled waters. Founded in 1958, IBWA's membership includes U.S. and international bottlers, distributors and suppliers. IBWA is committed to working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water as a packaged food product, and state governments to set stringent standards for safe, high quality bottled water products. Additionally, IBWA requires member bottlers to adhere to the IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice, which mandates additional standards and practices that in some cases are more stringent than federal and state regulations. A key feature of the IBWA Model Code is an annual plant inspection by an independent, third party organization.

For more information about IBWA, bottled water and a list of member‚ brands, please contact
Jill Culora, IBWA‚ Vice President of Communications at 703-647-4609 or [email protected].

Categories

Featured Videos  

Bottled Water - small water use, big health benefits

This cool video shows how bottled water is a very small and very efficient water user that spares people of billions of calories when they choose to drink water over other packaged drinks.

Pin It on Pinterest