Lots of good news around our upcoming release. For starters, this just in....

Nestle forced to pull out of McCloud CA contract to build a 1 million square foot bottling facility

FLOW Filmmaker calls on Obama and McCain to bring the water crisis into the presidential debate

NEW YORK, NY – August 6, 2008 – Today, several leading United States and Canada-based advocacy groups have identified Nestle Waters, the bottled water division of the Nestle company (VTX: NESN), as part of a domineering world water cartel aiding in the current global water crisis. The coalition includes Food & Water Watch, Corporate Accountability International and the Council of Canadians. The group argues that Nestle, which controls 32 percent of the U.S. bottled water market through subsidiaries such as Poland Springs and Arrowhead, is a serious threat to North American water resources.

Yesterday, Nestle was forced to pull out of a planned million square foot McCloud, CA bottling plant, after failing in recent weeks to mount bottled water plant initiatives in Kennebec, Maine and Enumclaw, Washington. Locals cite rising fears about private control of public water supplies, and environmental degradation near 26 other Nestle plants across the U.S. as catalyzing resistance.

The coalition’s argument comes just hours before Nestle releases half-year results, and weeks before the highly anticipated U.S. theatrical release of FLOW (www.flowthefilm.com) by Oscilloscope Pictures, a distribution company founded by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. FLOW investigates the bottled water business – along with pollution, privatization, scarcity and other issues -- as facets of a global crisis that has the filmmaker urging an election year focus.

“It’s wonderful that city governments and universities are starting to reject bottled water”, said Irena Salina, the director of FLOW. “But our oceans are riddled with these plastics and local water supplies are under siege. Clean water is so precious, our lives depend on how we protect it, and we hope and trust that Obama and McCain will begin to address this crisis in the political debate.”

Endorsed by Robert Redford, actor, activist and founder of the Sundance Film Festival, FLOW takes aim at several bottled water companies including Nestle, Pepsi and Coca-Cola for their collective roles in furthering the crisis.

"Water is the sleeping giant issue of the 21st century and we all need to wake up about it,” said Robert Redford. “FLOW opens our eyes about the greatest threat of our time - the global water crisis. It is a compelling and passionate film. Its engaging narrative will grip the viewer."

According to the coalition, Nestle, Pepsi and Coca-Cola have consistently embarked on a globally executed marketing plan and business strategy which has inevitably led consumers to throw billions of dollars away on purchasing water.

“Tap water is just as safe and healthy as bottled water and is a far more cost-effective choice than water packed in plastic,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “Just one percent of consumers’ expenditure on bottled water would pay for their tap water.”

“Charging more for a 20-ounce bottle of water than oil companies charge for 20 ounces of gas is simply indefensible,” said Gigi Kellett, director of Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle campaign. “Families can save over $100 per month just by using the tap.”

Water is a $425 billion a year industry, and it is no surprise U.S. bottled water corporations are working very hard to change the way people think about and consume water on a daily basis. But the 50 billion plastic bottles of water that are sold in the US each year require 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, 17 million barrels of oil, and 1.6 billion megajoules of energy to produce.

The coalition has also been critical of the recently U.S. Senate-approved Great Lakes Compact, an agreement between the eight states of the Great Lakes Basin, which allows water supplies in that area to be accessible for large-scale projects and private enterprises.

“The passage of the Great Lakes Compact would be a gift to the bottled water industry and is tantamount to backdoor privatization,” warns Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and author of Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water. “The high price tag on bottled water isn't just monetary. Commodification erodes the right to water while exploiting consumers."

ABOUT CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY INTERNATIONAL

Corporate Accountability International is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. For 30 years, the organization has forced corporations—like Nestlé, General Electric and Philip Morris/Altria—to stop abusive actions. Corporate Accountability International, an NGO in Official Relations with the World Health Organization (WHO), played a key role in development of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The Think Outside the Bottle campaign is a Corporate Accountability International initiative that challenges the abuses of the bottled water industry and builds support for strong public water systems. Visit: http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/

ABOUT FOOD & WATER WATCH

Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink. Food & Water Watch works with grassroots organizations around the world to create an economically and environmentally viable future. Through research, public and policymaker education, media, and lobbying, we advocate policies that guarantee safe, wholesome food produced in a humane and sustainable manner and public, rather than private, control of water resources including oceans, rivers, and groundwater. Visit http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/

ABOUT THE COUNCIL OF CANADIANS

The Council of Canadians is Canada's largest citizens' advocacy organization working to safeguard social security, promote economic justice, renew democracy, advocate alternatives to corporate-style free trade, and preserve our environment. In Canada, we fight to protect our universal social programs, safeguard our water and energy resources from corporate control, and promote a peacekeeping role for our armed forces. Internationally, we fight for a more just and equitable trade and economic system. Through the Blue Planet Project, we work to oppose the private take-over of the world's water resources and for the universal right to water. Visit:
http://www.canadians.org/