World Water Day: Message on a bottle

New water bottle to coincide with World Water Day makes clean spring water look dirty.

One Water, which pours profits into clean water projects worldwide, uses test packaging to urge consumers to ‘drink and think’.

663 million people worldwide don’t have easy access to clean water.
 
British bottled water brand One Water is trialling alternative packaging to alert UK consumers to the poor water conditions experienced by an estimated 663 million people worldwide. 
 
The company, which pours its profits into clean water projects around the globe, has developed a sleeve for its bottles to make the clean Welsh spring water they contain look dirty. The trials coincide with World Water Day on March 22nd.
 
One Water is on target to raise £20 million for water projects by 2020 and by Summer 2017 will have raised £15m. One Water is available from Starbucks locations nationwide, World Duty Free stores in airports across the UK, on Virgin Atlantic flights worldwide and from a range of small retailers and wholesalers in the UK. The brand was launched in 2005 as the official water partner for Live 8, Make Poverty History.
 
A poll of Londoners for One Water found that the majority buy bottled water during the week.
 
Duncan Goose, who founded the business based in London, said “By 2020, the British population will consume close to 4.8 billion litres of bottled water per year, which adds up to more than 70 litres of bottled water for everyone in the UK.  I wanted to turn this into a force for good – a source of funds that benefits the billions of people worldwide who don’t have a reliable clean water source.”
 
Trial versions of the new bottles are being market tested and Duncan Goose hopes that through the project the company will secure a major listing with a leading supermarket.
 
He said “It seems counter-intuitive to be trying to sell a bottle of water that looks dirty, but we think it’s a useful moment of reflection in our busy days and an opportunity to support a business that pours its profits into clean water for everyone rather than into the bank accounts of corporations.”
 
He added “If only a small proportion of the profits from the sale of every bottle of water went to clean water projects, we could have a huge impact on water issues worldwide. By drinking One Water you’re effectively saying to someone without access to clean water, ‘Have a clean drink on me.’”