DANIEL JAFFEE

«Privatization of municipal water systems and the fast-growing bottled and packaged water industry are the two major ways that drinking water is being transformed into a for-profit commodity on a global scale. The Blue Community movement makes a critical connection between these two forms of commodification, highlighting how both of them pose a threat to realizing the human right to water. Cities, universities, schools, faith organizations, and others who become Blue Communities are taking an important stand–joining a worldwide movement to keep water a public good and working toward water justice.»

Daniel Jaffee is an environmental and rural sociologist and Professor of Sociology at Portland State University. His research examines conflicts over water privatization and commodification; the social, environmental, and economic impacts of bottled and packaged water; and social movements around bottled water and water justice in both the global North and South.

Public Presentations:

Webinar Presentation, Plastic Pollution Coalition. August 27, 2025.

“Water Talks” Presentation, The Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. January 23, 2025.

Presentation to Northwest Toxic Communities Coalition Virtual Summit, May 10, 2025.

Publications:

BlueTriton’s exit from Ontario shows the effectiveness of bottled water opposition movements. In: The Conversation, December 11, 2024

(Book) Unbottled: The Fight Against Plastic Water and for Water Justice (University of California Press, 2023).
Review of Unbottled by Roland Brunner for Blue Community Zurich: (PDF 2 pages here)

“When communities face drinking-water crises, bottled water is a ‘temporary’ solution that often lasts years − and worsens inequality.” The Conversation, October 25, 2023.

“Unequal trust: Bottled water consumption, distrust in tap water, and economic and racial inequalityin the United States.” WIRES-Water, 2024.