Sucking Us Dry?

The UK currently has a surfeit of fresh (potable) water. It still sounds disturbing that 'foreign multinationals' are extracting billions of litres from UK aquifers. For example, Coca Cola has an Environment Agency licence, to extract almost 1.6 bn litres of water each year from bore holes in Sidcup (Kent) for its soft drinks. It can take another 380 m litres from Morpeth (Northumberland), for its bottled water brands. A subsidiary of the French company Sources Alma, is licenced to extract 1.5 bn litres from Armathwaite (Cumbria). The Swiss company Nestle Waters, has licences for 880 m litres it can take from sites in Derbyshire and Pembrokeshire (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/25/foreign-firms-taking-billions-of-litres-from-uk-aquifers-to-make-bottled-water). In the UK, Environment Agency water bottling licences, however, account for less than 1% of total abstraction. The vast majority of abstracted water, is used by agriculture, industry and for human households. This is, of course, not always true in other parts of the world. Extraction by multinationals may starve locals of their own water. This needs carefully watching in the UK, as climate change impacts make potable water availability less reliable. A more currently serious gripe, to direct to these 'foreign multinationals', is that they often sell their over-priced drinks in plastic bottles. They are consequently considerable sources of microplastics pollution.