First bottled water conference in Johannesburg addressed by Dr Anthony Turton

With the future of municipal water in question in light of increasing consumption, the outlook for the bottled water industry is positive, says Dr Anthony Turton, keynote speaker at the South African National Bottled Water Association’s ‘Bottled Water Business’ Conference on 27 July.

The conference was part of Africa’s Big Seven Food and Beverage Trade Show (AB7), which took place in conjunction with the Southern African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX) at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg.

According to Turton, a director of Touchstone Resources and a trained scientist specialising in water resource management, there are indications that 2012/2013 will be a bad year for this scarce resource. However, this bodes well for bottled water suppliers and distributors.

Due to the decreased amount of available drinking water, consumers may begin to question the quality of their water.

“A major opportunity arises in this case, as public perception of deteriorating quality drives demand for bottled water,” he notes.

Turton stressed the idea that water should be treated as a flux, constantly being recycled, as opposed to being managed as a stock. “Once water is viewed as a flux, we will see a shift towards consumers making the lifestyle choice of being custodians of the future, custodians of this precious resource.”