Bottled Water
The very first guest writer here at 8 weeks of clean living is my good friend Lauren. Lauren is about to start a PhD at UC Davis in the ecology department, with a focus on environmental policy. Hopefully she’ll be a recurring contributor, and to start she’s going to consider the environmental impact of bottled water.
Last time I dropped off my recycling at the local center there was someone ahead of me in line depositing a strikingly large number of empty plastic water bottles. As suggested by this thirsty person (or perhaps her thirsty clientele), bottled water has become a very popular drink choice. Unfortunately, it comes with its share of environmental problems. Purifying bottled water takes large amounts of energy, as does transporting full bottles thousands of miles to be sold. In addition, the fossil fuels required to produce enough plastic bottles to satisfy America’s annual demand for bottled water could fuel 100,000 cars for a year. Finally, once bottled water has been consumed, as few as 14 percent of the bottles get recycled.
Early this summer San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order banning the city government from using city funds to buy its employees bottled water. This is a smart way for the city, whose municipal water is readily drinkable, to save the approximately $500,000 it spends annually on bottled water and reduce its generation of waste, in addition to helping wean its city employees from bottled water. The city of Los Angeles has instituted a similar policy.
Anyone who lives in an area with safe water can make the switch from bottled water by acquiring a reusable, washable water container such as the environmentally friendly ones made by Klean Kanteen. I like to keep my bottle in the fridge–the cold water tastes better and I get the added refreshment factor. In places with suspect tap water, one can get a water filter that fits in the fridge. Switching from bottled water to tap water is an easy change to make that saves money, energy and the environment.
July 16th, 2007 at 9:29 am
[...] that the city of Ann Arbor is now banning the sale of bottled water at city events. Based on our previous coverage of this topic, I’d say that this is a good thing. Whether it’s the government’s [...]