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Every Arab country in the Middle East, particularly the Gulf Cooperation Council, was faced with water scarcity. The region's vast reserves of 'Black Gold' (Oil) had brought huge wealth, but water continued to remain a scarce resource. Of late, the scare resource was turning into a ‘New Gold’ in the region for this decade and beyond. It was estimated that the region would need double the amount of water compared to the past. To meet the rise in demand and consumption, the governments were investing heavily in energy intensive desalination projects to provide water to their citizens, besides allocating huge amounts in their budgets and subsidising water and other utility services. But analysts opined that such investments would create additional financial burden on the countries in future due to frantic industrial expansion and population growth. On the other hand, high disposable income, easy market access for suppliers, increasing health awareness and a large thriving expatriate community were some of the factors that contributed towards the shift in consumer preference from tap water to mineral water, pushing the demand further for bottled water. It was estimated that the bottled water industry was growing at an average rate of eight percent by volume per annum in the region, attracting a plethora of companies, both local and international to tap the growth potential. For example, in Saudi Arabia alone, the bottled water market was expected to reach Saudi Riyal (SR) 3.2 billion by 2014, while in Dubai there were 1500 brands jostling for a share of throat in the market place. But experts believed that many of these companies were entering the market without a basic understanding of the local markets, thereby creating ‘A Perfect Storm’.