Ruthanna Terreri knows that hope alone won’t prevent the world’s water crisis from growing.
Hope itself won’t change the fact that water scarcity, according to the World Health Organization, effects one in three people on every continent around the globe.
Hope — without action — can’t stop the three million preventable deaths worldwide each year that result from water-related diseases. But she starts with hope. In fact, she’s bottling it, selling it and wants people to drink hope — literally.
As president and founder of the Madison-based Hope Water Foundation, Terreri is hoping her newly launched H2ope bottled water — branded as ‘The World’s Kindest Water’ — will do for water what Paul Newman did for popcorn and salad dressing — use an existing consumer market to raise awareness and dollars for a cause.
And with 155 million Americans spending an estimated $20 billion annually on bottled water, the market Terreri’s trying to enter is huge, but so, Terreri explains, is the global water crisis.
“Ninety seven and a half percent of the earth’s water is saltwater. If you put all the water in the world into a bucket, only one teaspoon would be drinkable,” Terreri explained. “Lots of drinkable water is being wasted and not getting to people who need it.” In fact, the United Nations notes that today one in eight people globally are directly affected by the water crisis. However, by 2020 — due to factors like population growth and global warming — it’s estimated that water scarcity will affect one in four.
And those problems aren’t just in Third World countries, Terreri warns. “There are parts of the U.S. where people’s access to clean drinking water is compromised by contamination due to outdated clean water laws.”
For her part, Terreri’s long-term plan — if H2ope water takes off — is to donate proceeds from sales to efforts such as water conservation, clean water advocacy, and supporting water-related infrastructure development and maintenance. Just launched in April, H2ope water currently donates a fraction each sale, but Terreri expects to be turning a profit within six to nine months and donating 100 percent of sales to water crisis solutions.
And she’s encouraged by her product’s early success. With only limited distribution in 72 locations in Boston, Rhode Island and Connecticut, including Highland Park Market locations and Whole Foods in West Hartford Center, more than 25,000 bottles of H2ope Water have been sold in the product’s first three months.
“We continue to grow our distribution channel, and are looking to hire our first commission-based sales representative,” Terreri says. Until now, she said, H2ope Water’s success has relied on a small contingent of unpaid volunteers — including Terreri — who have handled everything from the website to sales to promotion.
Those local promotional efforts, including providing water in partnership with the Hartford Marathon Foundation at seven Hartford area road races, are helping to put H2ope Water in the hands of potential consumers. It’s an important step, Terreri said, in growing market share in the Hartford region.
The cost of a bottle of H2ope water is around $1.50, Terreri said, mid-way between lower-end brands and premium bottled water that can run over $2. “We don’t want H2ope water to be elite. We want it to be available for everyone,” she said, explaining it can be purchased by bottle or case.
And if H2ope water takes off, of course, that will mean a lot of extra plastic bottles in the environment. But Terreri — an environmentalist by trade — has already planned for that. H2ope bottles contain a special enzyme that makes them 100 percent biodegradable and still remain recyclable. H2ope water, it seems, can address both the environment and the water crisis.
It’s a win-win, Terreri thinks. Or better yet, she hopes.
