As you know, one of the easiest and best ways to optimize your health is to replace carbonated and sugary sweet drinks with clean fresh water. What happens when -- due to drought conditions -- water of any kind is in short supply, and big business -- think international soft drink bottlers -- has a stranglehold over it?

That's the upsetting story playing out in rural areas of southern India, where some residents rely entirely on water trucked in from other locales, all because Coca-Cola manufacturers squandered local water supplies until they ran dry...

For example, the Coca-Cola plant so completely drained the village of Plachimada of water, there was nothing left to wash clothes, drink or for cooking. Indian officials have begun to clean up this waste of ground water by Pepsi and Coca-Cola, little by little, but it should never have come to this at all.

So, if you think big business is only interested in controlling their financial interests in North America and Europe to keep their coffers flush with cash -- like the mega-national drugmakers do so well -- guess again. And, it makes you wonder how soft-drink manufacturers in America can make and peddle their sugar-laden liquids in areas plagued with drought...

VOA News.com March 8, 2006

India Resource Center May 28, 2002

Frontline, Vol. 23, No. 10, May 20-June 2, 2006