UPDATE: We received a comment from a PeopleWater enthusiast that we wanted to add to our post. This is what the commenter has to say:
Their mission statement is “For every bottle purchased PW will give an equal amount of clean water to a person in need.” So how does the math work when they fund a well?
If a well costs $12,000 to drill and produces 1000 liters a day, and lasts for 2 years before breaking/running dry, that’s 730,000 liters or 1.46m of their 500ml bottles. So, they could spread $12,000 over 1.46m bottles, or be giving just $0.008 per bottle. That’s less than 1 cent per bottle. I’m truly hoping that isn’t the case. Even Starbucks’ Ethos water gives a paltry 5 cents per sold bottle. Let’s hope PeopleWater is giving 20 cents or more per bottle.
Great comment. I do like that PeopleWater is building wells because wells really do empower people so for now I will give them major props for that.
Emily Maynard, Jef Holm, People Water co-founder Cody Barker and Creative Director Bronson Christensen,Ghana
Source: Instagram
There is another great comment at the bottom by someone who seems to know a lot about PeopleWater — like that PeopleWater uses an Eco Friendly additive in their plastic bottles that will start to biodegrate within 270 days. And that is super important when dealing with plastics. I suggest people take a look at it. I don’t want to imply that PeopleWater is in anyway not legit. We are just in the process of learning and your comments are a great help!
Please read the below comments from people who seem to know a lot about the company and see the latest updates from the couple who is now in Ghana checking on PeopleWater wells.
*************
I love that I have been given an assignment! In Penny Farthing’s last post, she posed the question: Is Bachelorette season 8 contestant Jef Holm’s company-with-a-cause People Water legit? Now, Penny Farthing knows I love nothing more (except for The Bachelor, of course) than exposing fake benevolence by first world charities that assuage first world guilt while padding first world pocket-books (must be my Scorpio moon).
I was recently banned from the Sierra Club’s Facebook page for posting evidence about their support to kill the California Environmental Quality Act (don’t even get me started on the Sierra Club. They get ZERO stars on C Lo’s “Charity Watch” list).
Right away, after just a smidge of research, I was so eager to give People Water the official and coveted Ok! Here is the Situation “thumbs up“ that I almost confused it with the company Water For People, which is apparently an amazing and highly rated non profit (You can check that company out here, on Charity Navigator’s Watchlist). But, People Water is nowhere to be found on the Charity Navigator site, likely because the company is still so small.
Unfortunately, after MUCH MORE research, the verdict on whether People Water is legit is…..still unknown!
I certainly want to give People Water 4 stars on C Lo’s Charity Watchlist, but I need more info!
Jef Holm is a co-founder of People Water, a for-proft company that claims to share profits with non-profits that build wells in third world countries, and so far we have no evidence to the contrary. So far, we know People Water has built two wells in Nicaragua (which is two more wells than I have built in Nicaragua)….but that’s about it.
They do have a pretty website that looks like they are doing something cool, but I’m having trouble figuring out what they have actually done. Don’t get me wrong. They may be doing amazing things, I just can’t figure out exactly what. Their partners are not listed on any Charity Watchlist sites, so that suggests to me that they are pretty small and pretty new. Nothing wrong with that, but I can’t issue my 4 stars based on that.
I do like their statement about how we give:
“How we give”: “While the water problem itself is not hard to understand, the solutions are a bit more complex. There are many factors that go into providing a sustainable water resource that we had never even imagined—issues of maintenance and sanitation, government agencies to deal with, geologist to consult, drilling companies to hire…And while many people have their hearts in the right place, sometimes that is simply not enough. (Evidence of this is that 50% of all water projects fail within the first few years.)”
They are teamed up with the Blue Planet Network and Generosity Water (neither of which are rated on Charity Navigator, but Blue Planet Network is a member of Guidestar where they share their financial information online.)
So, come on People Water. Give us some stats, some numbers. Maybe showcase the number of dollars you have received and how much of that you’ve spent on charity work? We just need something to make us feel good and to want to root for you! Unfortunately, we live in a world with a lot of corruption, scandal and “for profit” charities, so we like to question everything before blindly deciding to follow along with the latest charitable trend. And we hope People Water ends up being one of the “good ones.”
Readers: If you have any insight into the operations of People Water, please let us know. We are trying to research the company but are having a hard time finding any qualifying sources. In the meantime, our fingers are crossed that it’s legit and awesome! And if we do uncover any more intel, we will let you know. Thanks.
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Ridiculous, people. Why let the middle man profit and at the same time put more plastic into the environment (even “faster degrading” plastic – seriously?) Give your water money to an actual, accountable, charity that provides wells and maintenance. This is just at best a naive and at worst a disingenuous gimmick. And all the money that’s spent on “checking on” the wells by people who don’t need to be there? Wouldn’t it be better to spend *that* money on building more wells? Just sayin’.
I think they’ve been around longer than December 2011. I work for a bottling plant that is about to re-open. The company that owned this plant before our company did shut its doors about two years ago. When my company bought the plant, there were labels in the plant from People Water because they had been looking at having the old company bottle their water.
Glad to see the poster above listing Bretschneider as CEO. Bachelorette would have us believe JH is the CEO, and perhaps he was when he left for Charlotte since Bretschneider was names CEO in April…
caption: Ken Bretschneider, CEO of People Water Inc. (PRNewsFoto/People Water Inc.)
news release: People Water Names Ken Bretschneider CEO
media contact info: Seth Howell, People Water Inc., 801-494-4232, seth@peoplewater.org.
release date: 24 April 2012
release time: 03:01 EDT
city: PLEASANT GROVE
state: UT
country: UNITED STATES
tags: CONSUMER, EXECUTIVES, FOOD
direct link to this photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120424/CG90442
Their mission statement is “For every bottle purchased PW will give an equal amount of clean water to a person in need.” So how does the math work when they fund a well?
If a well costs $12,000 to drill and produces 1000 liters a day, and lasts for 2 years before breaking/running dry, that’s 730,000 liters or 1.46m of their 500ml bottles. So, they could spread $12,000 over 1.46m bottles, or be giving just $0.008 per bottle. That’s less than 1 cent per bottle.
I’m truly hoping that isn’t the case. Even Starbucks’ Ethos water gives a paltry 5 cents per sold bottle. Let’s hope PeopleWater is giving 20 cents or more per bottle.
The math makes more sense if you consider what the CEO said on the website… that their drop for drop only goes for 6 months (anything after that is good for the people, but they dont count it as drop for drop). SO, that means that for every 180,000 (1000x30x6) liter bottles sold, they build a well that produces 1000 liters a day. On their website, they sell a 12 pack of 1 liters for 30$. That means that if each well costs $12,000 roughly 2.66% of their profits go to creating clean water (180,000 bottles/12= 15,000x$30=$450,000 – $12,000 = $438,000 profit).
Here’s a few facts on People Water. I don’t work for People Water…however, I’m tied to a few of the employees and have an insider perspective.
1) People Water is not a NPO they are “For Profit and Cause Related” and make donations to NPO’s that specialize in the Global Water crisis.
2) People Water is a start up and they have been selling Natural Spring Water since December 2011. In January of 2012 PW completed their first well project in Nicaragua. They have already prepaid for two additional well projects in Ghana that will start in July of 2012. They are committed to providing clean drinking water to people in need and through their “Drop for Drop” initiative and they will continue to provide well projects as they increase their distribution and sales of the People Water brand.
3) What’s unique about PW is they prepay for the well projects and assign each water bottle and well project with a QR code and a water batch number that corresponds with that well project. As the bottles are sold, a percentage of the sale is used to pay down each well project. If you would like to help fund a well project, purchase a bottle of People Water, scan the QR code, and follow your water project.
4) Partners: They work with Blue Planet Network and Generosity Water who manage and build the well projects. They’re also in discussion with several NPO’s to provide additional clean drinking water projects to people in need through their “Drop for Drop” initiative.
5) People Water also uses an Eco Friendly additive in their plastic bottles that will start to biodegrate within 270 days. Normal PETE bottles can take up to 500 years to break down. PW is not only committed to providing clean drinking water but they’re also committed to the environment as well.
6) Jef Hol and Cody Barker are the co-founders of PW and Ken Bretschneider is the CEO.
7) How can you get involved? Change the way you think and drink water…support PW and ask you’re local retailer to carry PW so you can help provide clean drinking water to people in need. You can also buy People Water and cool items from their website at http://www.peoplewater.com. A percentage of each sale from the website (up to 25%) is contributed to future well projects.
Jeff seems like a sincere person who wants to do good in the world, but he is also an investor making money selling bottled water. It’s wonderful that People Water donates money to charities that build wells where they’re needed in the world, it’s not so wonderful that the donated money comes from water bottled in plastic, which is shipped all over the country to places that *already have water*! Think about how much energy and how many natural resources are wasted in the bottling and shipping of water. (Also, people might want to do some minimal research to learn about the *reality* of biodegradable and faster degrading plastic, such as People Water claims it uses. It isn’t a rosy picture.) If you actually want to do good in the world, send money directly to the charities doing the work and leave out the irresponsible middle men selling water in order to give a small amount of the money they make to funding wells – which isn’t really better than nothing when one takes into account the wasted resources and silliness of sending water to places where there’s already plenty of water. Is People Water better than bottled water companies that don’t fund wells? Sure. Are they better than bottled water companies that give a greater percentage of their proceeds to fund wells? NO. Are they better than contributing directly to the cause and helping everyone’s environment out at the same time by not contributing to plastic proliferation and wasted resources? DEFINITELY NOT.