At 14 billion litres per year, Italy is the country that consumes the most bottled water in Europe and the second highest in the world. A business that often comes at the expense of the environment and citizens. The Legambiente editorial.
Bottled water is an anomaly unique to Italy. A business worth around 10 billion euros per year, corresponding to a turnover of 2.8 billion for the bottling companies alone. All this in the face of extraction fees from springs that are, to say the least, laughable, reaching a maximum of 2 thousandths of a euro per litre. In plain terms, this means that private companies are making a fortune from water, while the public purse, citizens and the environment lose out.
It is a sector that in our country has never known a downturn (with production oscillating between 7 and 8 billion bottles per year), and the gap between costs and profits for companies is extraordinary (we are talking about a cost 250 times lower than the average retail price of bottled water). With over 260 brands distributed across 140 plants bottling more than 14 billion litres to meet the exorbitant national demand, equal to 206 litres per person per year, according to Censis data, we are the country that consumes the most bottled water in Europe. In the world, only Mexico consumes more.
This is the picture that emerges from the study Acque in bottiglia. Un'anomalia tutta italiana by Legambiente and Altreconomia, published to mark World Water Day. Underlying Italy's record is the false myth that bottled water is better and more rigorously monitored than tap water, and above all there is the virtually zero cost of the raw material (the water) for those who bottle it: an average of just 1 thousandth of a euro per litre.
While it is true that water is a primary, vital resource that must be preserved, it continues to be managed as if it were private property, generating enormous profits. For this reason, a national criterion must be established that sets the cost of spring water extracted by companies at a minimum of 2 cents per litre. A fee that would still be negligible, but already ten times higher than the current one, and which would allow regions to increase their revenue by at least 280 million euros per year, to be reinvested in policies and measures in favour of tap water and the protection of water resources, which are today under severe strain from climate change and recurring drought emergencies.
Regulating concessions differently would have more than one advantage. For example, it would help increase the use of tap water and reduce the excessive use of plastic bottles. An objective that is also at the heart of new European legislation, from the Plastic strategy to the new proposed revision of the drinking water directive presented on 1 February last, with a 17 per cent reduction in consumption of plastic bottled water and a consequent saving for European households of 600 million euros per year.
There are currently over 290 active concessions across Italian territory, covering a total of around 250 square kilometres of land placed under trust. The fees applied by regions follow three criteria based on the hectares under concession, the volumes extracted and those bottled: only five regions apply all three of the prescribed criteria (Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Molise, Sicily and the autonomous province of Bolzano), while three (Abruzzo, Sardegna and Toscana) apply only a single fee. The prices applied range from a minimum of 21.38 euros per hectare as set in Emilia Romagna to 130 euros in Puglia to 587.68 euros applied in Veneto for plain-area concessions.
The most interesting aspect, however, concerns the fee for bottled quantities, which has an average value of 1.15 euros per cubic metre, or 1 thousandth of a euro per litre; this can rise at best to the 2.70 euros per cubic metre applied by the autonomous province of Bolzano (still corresponding to just 2.7 thousandths of a euro per litre), and can fall as low as 0.30 euros per cubic metre as in Abruzzo. Puglia, Umbria and Sardegna have no fee for volumes of water: if Legambiente's proposal were applied in these three regions alone, to give just one example, the possible revenues for regional and municipal coffers would be 1.2, 6.7 and 22.6 million euros per year respectively. Despite being a country rich in water, mostly of good quality, there are unfortunately some shortcomings in the supply, management and monitoring system that often contribute to fuelling mistrust towards tap water, which today affects around one third of Italian households.
But the inadequacy of the water network, cases of water rationing in various Italian cities, or situations of drinking water contamination, are specific, localised occurrences that are for the most part known and reported by the competent authorities, and must not be generalised across the whole national territory. Controls on the water that reaches our homes are very thorough and frequent (in Rome, around 250,000 checks are carried out each year), and regulations are continually being updated. In short, the reasons behind Italy's singular passion for bottled water cannot concern health and safety. This is why, alongside a thorough reform of the fee system for companies, a transparency drive aimed at consumers is needed, to ensure accurate information and greater awareness regarding choices about drinking water.