Bottle Backlash

Asbury Park Press
Published May 28, 2008

Bottled water is out and tap water is in. Call it reverse snob appeal, but these days, it's the tap water enthusiasts, concerned about the environment, who get to act self-righteous. In Canada, the bottled water issue has reached the level of an "uprising." College students are staging protests — declaring "bottled-water free zones" and high schoolers are questioning why their school board is locking them into a contract with Coke or Pepsi (makers of Aquafina and Dasani bottled water) when they have access to drinking fountains for free. It takes 15 million barrels of oil per year to make all of the plastic water bottles in America, according to the Container Recycling Institute. Sending those bottles by air and truck uses even more fossil fuel. Once people drain the bottles, they rarely recycle them because they're often purchased at big concert venues or airports with no recycling bins, so eight out of 10 water bottles end up in the landfill. Plastic bottles that drift from landfills or end up in streams are washing out to sea to form a huge raft of plastic debris in the center of the Pacific that is estimated to be twice the size of Texas. It takes 1,000 years for plastic bottles to break down. States could add deposit bills that would increase recycling efforts, but few have taken the initiative. Consumers are advised NOT to reuse store-bought bottled water, or even plastic bottles supposedly made for refilling, due to dangers of leaching chemicals. Research shows that clear bottles made of polycarbonate plastic (such as the original 32-ounce Nalgene) can leach bisphenol-A (BPA), an endocrine disrupting chemical that acts like estrogen in the body. Since BPA has been linked to low sperm counts and an increased risk of breast and prostate cancer, scientists suggest avoiding reusable bottles made from plastic. They also raise serious concerns about the potential for other plastic chemicals to leach out of typical PET bottled water bottles — especially if they sit in the hot sun. Some of the best refillable bottle options come from the stainless, guaranteed-not-to-leach SIGG bottles made in Switzerland. The trend away from bottled water may also boost sales of home filters. Water quality experts say most tap water is fine to drink straight from the faucet — especially in cities like San Francisco, Seattle, New York City and Denver, where water comes from pristine mountain reservoirs. It makes sense for anyone turning back to the tap to become educated about the local public water supply. And since the Environmental Protection Agency requires frequent water quality reports, the data is easy to find. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) makes it easy with its Tap Water Database. You can plug in your ZIP code and find out whether your local water system is up to par. Now that more people are trying kick the bottled water habit, groups like Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and EWG hope this new awareness will translate into more support for public water supplies, and for water conservation in general.