Fiji: US bottled water exporter finally pays up

A US bottled water exporter that had enjoyed a de facto tax free status in the Pacific island nation of Fiji since 1995, has finally been forced to pay up.

Once dubbed as “bottled insanity” by environmentalists, FIJI Water has been linked to tax evasion, political intrigue, and greenwashing.

Water Resource Tax

Fiji earned a record high 4.4 million Fiji dollars (US$ 2.5 million) in the first four months of 2011 from the Water Resource Tax imposed on bottled water companies. According to FGB News this is thanks to the first payment since the Water Resource Tax came into effect by Fiji’s largest bottled water exporter – FIJI Water.

The total amount in water taxes collected in 2009 and 2010 was only 295,000 Fiji dollars (US$ 166,000) and 469,000 Fiji dollars (US$ 265,000) respectively.

In 2010, FIJI Water threatened to shutdown operations after the government increased the water extraction tax from one third of a cent per litre to 15 Fiji cents (8.5 US dollar cents) a litre. The tax only applies to companies bottling more than 3.5 million litres per month and FIJI Water happened to be the only company that met this requirement. While the company was able, in 2008, to thwart an attempt by the government to impose a similar but higher water tax of 20 Fijian cents per litre, it finally agreed to pay up in 2010.

Investigative journalists at Mother Jones have been reporting on FIJI Water since 2009

Bangladesh: government’s sanitation claim trashed

The finance minister’s claim that 90.6 percent families in Bangladesh are using sanitary latrines has been dismissed by experts. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Report 2010) data shows the sanitary latrine coverage in Bangladesh is only 51.5 per cent (which is consistent with the 53 per cent coverage figure given by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation in 2010). Wateraid Bangladesh’s country director Dr Md Khairul Islam that there was ‘no way’ such huge coverage has been achieved as claimed by the finance minister and he was provided with ‘misleading’ data was provided to the minister.

Minister A.M.A. Muhith named the 90.6 per cent coverage figure while presenting the budget for fiscal year 2011-2012 year. In his 2009-2010 budget speech the minister announced a plan to construct 500,000 new latrines so that total sanitation coverage would be achieved by 2013.

Source: bdnews24.com, 10 Jul 2011

China, Hangzhou: chemical spills taints city’s water supply, schools closed

Two separate pollution incidents have hit the drinking water supply of the Chinese city of Hangzhou (pop. 9 million), Zhejiang Province, in the beginning of June 2011.

In the first incident, the drinking water supply of more than half a million people was cut off when phenol (carbolic acid) spilled into the Xin’an river, creating a run on bottled water. A tanker truck carrying 20 tons of phenol, which had broken down, was hit by another truck as it was being repaired. The crash ruptured the tanker truck’s chemical tank and the leaked phenol was washed by rain into the river, which is one of the sources of Hangzhou’s drinking water.

Authorities temporarily shut down water plants and released extra water from nearby dams to dilute the spill. The concentration of carbolic acid near the accident site remained at more than 900 times the safe drinking level. Despite reassurances that drinking water in Hangzhou itself was safe, residents rushed to buy bottled water, leaving shelves in some supermarkets empty.

India, Uttarakhand: Rotary to provide clean drinking water facilities in Mussoorie schools

The Rotary Club will spend 5.5 million Rupees (US$ 121,000) to provide clean drinking water and proper sanitation in schools in Mussoorie, said Rotary District 3080 Governor Madhukar Malhotra. DG Malhotra was attending a programme on the Sanitation and Drinking Water Project for schools held at the Mussoorie Mahatma Yogeshwar Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandiron.

Related web sites:

• Rotary Mussoorie
• Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action group (WASRAG)
• IRC – WASH in Schools

Source: Garhwal Post, 04 Jun 2011