That bottle of Aquafina ‘mdash; yeah, that one ‘mdash; you’re paying way too much for it. There’s a more affordable and accessible alternative from your friend, the faucet.
After seeing the shocking number of empty bottles that my roommates were lugging over to recycle at Vons, I switched over from bottled water to tap. It just doesn’t make sense to drink from a bottle when you look at the environmental and monetary waste associated with doing so.
This Monday, during Earth Week’s Trash Sort, I went through three Dumpsters’ worth of garbage. By the end, there was a towering mound of recovered recyclable goods ‘mdash; the majority of them plastic water bottles. You don’t need to go through trash cans for plastic bottles, but everyone should do their part to recycle by being conscious of their waste. It would prevent bottles from being sent to landfills and it would save me from awkward stares as I reach into trashcans to fish out plastic water bottles.
Last year the United States spent $15 billion on bottled water ‘mdash; the amount it would cost to provide clean drinking water to the entire world. Somehow we’ve gotten into the habit of paying good money for a product we’ve always had for much cheaper. Of course, we’re all victims to safety concerns and taste preferences ‘mdash; but never fear, there are alternatives.
For cash-strapped college students, the kitchen sink and water fountains are cost-effective solutions. If you were to purchase a 20-ounce bottle for a dollar, you’d be paying nearly $6 per gallon. You’d complain about gas prices at that level, but most people don’t think twice when the product in question is a bottle of drinking water. Yes, water is essential, but the bottle isn’t. About 90 percent of the cost of bottled water is due to the bottle itself; bottled water can range anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times the cost of public tap water. The price of tap water in San Diego is $0.004 per gallon. Regardless of how much water you drink, switching from bottled to tap would save you a handful.
Some people drink bottled water for safety reasons, but tap water is actually tested more often and has higher regulations for contaminants than bottled water. Bottled-water companies are not required to notify their customers if their water is contaminated, or, in most states, to tell their customers about their water’s origins or purification process. That means you very well could be drinking bottled tap water.
Taste is a big factor but that has to do with the filtration process. That’s why some bottled-water companies are just filtering tap water, bottling it and marking up its price to make a profit. In July 2007, Pepsi-Cola (the owner of Aquafina) revealed that it bottled tap water. Twenty-four percent of the bottled water we buy is tap water repackaged by Coke and Pepsi. Forty percent of bottled water is simply filtered municipal water. You can do this at home with a Brita pitcher or a faucet-filter adapter (they cost about $20 and will get you several hundred gallons of water).
Bottled water is convenient, but comes at a high price when you consider the waste it generates. An e
qually convenient and reusable alternative is purchasing a stainless-steel bottle (why steel? Google BPA). You can fill it with filtered tap water at home and refill on the run at a water fountain. Typically, it wouldn’t cost you more than 30 or 40 seconds to quench your thirst.
The bookstore is currently giving out $5 vouchers for Klean Kanteen bottles when you bring in a plastic bottle to trade. You’ll make up the price of the bottle in no time and also reduce the number of plastic bottles that are produced.
The Social and Environmental Sustainability Committee has been working toward expanding public water infrastructure (installing reusable water bottle friendly fountains and filtered fountains) and phasing out bottled water on campus. The Food Co-op took bottled water off its shelves and replaced it with free filtered tap water for its customers. The A.S. Council has also taken a stance by passing a resolution in support of eliminating bottled water and encouraging the university to issue a campuswide policy to eliminate the purchase and sale of bottled water by June 2009. The UCSD Climate Action Plan aims to supply new water fountains and water distribution stations to reduce need for bottled water and obtain a commitment from the administration to allow bottled water contracts to expire.
Unless it’s an emergency, opt for the tap. If you can’t do that, please cut back. It would bring down the cost for water and reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions, water consumption and waste generation. In the spirit of Earth Week, try it out.