Tages-Anzeiger is a German-language Swiss national daily newspaper with a circulation of 550,000 readers. The newspaper reports, “In the small Pakistani community of Bhati Dilwan, a former village councilor says children are being sickened by filthy water. Who’s to blame? He says it’s bottled water-maker Nestlé, which dug a deep well that is depriving locals of potable water. …The testimony is a key moment in the new documentary film ‘Bottled Life’ by Swiss filmmaker Urs Schnell and journalist Res Gehriger. The film opens in Swiss theaters on Jan. 26.”

The article continues, “In view of the fact that every day more children die from drinking dirty water than AIDS, war, traffic accidents and malaria put together, Maude Barlow, a former UN chief advisor for water issues, states: ‘When a company like Nestlé comes along and says, Pure Life is the answer, we’re selling you your own ground water while nothing comes out of your faucets anymore or if it does it’s undrinkable – that’s more than irresponsible, that’s practically a criminal act.’” In the film, Barlow says, “Nestlé is a predator, a water hunter.”

“Several times between 2007 and 2009 the company denined requests (from the filmmakers) for interviews with company managers. It also refused to allow visits to bottling facilities. …Undeterred, journalist Gehriger visited a refugee camp in Ethiopia where, in 2003, Nestlé had installed a water treatment facility for $750,000. Two years later, the company pulled out. Since then the facility has not been functioning properly, and water shortages have returned. In Lagos, Nigeria, Gehriger discovered that families have to spend up to half their household budget on water in canisters, and that only those who can afford it drink Pure Life. Then there are the communities in the U.S. state of Maine who are fighting Nestlé because it pumps ground water and spring water in huge quantities – which it can do legally: whoever owns land can pump as much water as they like.”

For more on ‘Bottled Life: The Truth About Nestle’s Business With Water‘, please go to http://www.bottledlifefilm.com/index.php/home-en.html.

For Council of Canadians campaign blogs related to Nestle, please see:
- NEWS: Nestle executive insults Vancouver Island University bottled water ban
- WIN! Victoria becomes a blue community (despite opposition from Nestle)
- NEWS: Nestle says company in talks with Alberta to trade in water
- NEWS: Wellington Water Watchers march against Nestle permit
- WIN! London rejects pressure from Nestle to end bottled water ban
- NEWS: Barlow challenges Nestle’s ‘bully tactics’ in Guelph

The Tages-Anzeiger article can be read in English at http://www.worldcrunch.com/poisoning-well-nestl-accused-exploiting-water-supplies-bottled-brands/4503 and in German at http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wirtschaft/unternehmen-und-konjunktur/Dokufilm-uebt-massiv-Kritik-an-Nestle/story/31103319.

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