An Edmonton-based bottled water company is teaming up with the United Nations, directing its entire net profit to the international agency to fund clean water projects in Africa.

Kori Chilibeck, 28, founder of Earth Water, says he expects to donate between $40,000 and $50,000 Cdn to the UN by the end of the year. In exchange for the company's donations, the UN has granted the company exclusive use of its logos for marketing.

"Every six seconds someone dies in the world strictly from a lack of clean water," Chilibeck told the Canadian Press. "If you added up the five worst diseases in the world, including AIDS, the lack of clean fresh water still kills more people every day."

A UN spokeswoman said Earth Water profits are being used to fund projects in Chad.

Bottled water industry under scrutiny

Recently, the bottled water industry has faced charges that it's contributing to pollution and long-term health problems. Environmentalist David Suzuki recently urged Canadians to choose tap water, charging that bottled water creates waste. He also suggested that consumer use of plastics could lead to long-term health problems.

"Not only does bottled water lead to unbelievable pollution — with old bottles lying all over the place — but plastic has chemicals in it," he said. "Plastics are ubiquitous. I don't believe that plastics are not involved in a great deal of the health problems that we face today."

A study conducted last December found that the concentration of certain potentially harmful chemicals, such as antimony, increases the longer the water is stored in a plastic bottle. Lead researcher William Shotyk of the University of Heidelberg said more research was needed before he could discuss possible implications of the chemicals on human health.

"We're against the commodification — the privatization is another way to say it — of water any way, anywhere." — Richard Chambers,United Church of Canada

The United Church of Canada last summer also criticized the bottled water industry, saying that water is a human right that should not be sold. Delegates to the church's general council voted to discourage the purchase of bottled water within its churches.

"We're against the commodification — the privatization is another way to say it — of water any way, anywhere," Richard Chambers, the church's social policy co-ordinator, told CBC News. "And bottled water that we see being sold in Canada is just an example of that — the thin edge of the wedge of the privatization of water."

Earth Water exploring biodegradables

But Chilibeck is undeterred, saying that he is planning on exploring the use of biodegradable bottles.

"Our philosophy is that we're taking some of the profits that are already out there and using them for a good cause," he said. "If we sell 250,000 bottles, that doesn't mean there is another 250,000 bottles on the market, it means that someone like Coke or Pepsi has sold 250,000 bottles less."

"We're trying to save people's lives, and if we can use capitalism for the benefit of those that need help the most, living in the poorest places on Earth, then that's what we're going to do."

With files from the Canadian Press