New York Times: Movement Against Bottled Water Gains Municipal Adherents

By NICOLE COTRONEO
LONG ISLAND residents love to stay hydrated on the go — they consumed half a billion bottles of water in the past year. The evidence is everywhere: plastic bottles stuffed in treadmill cup holders at the gym, lined up neatly along the buffet table at office meetings and, even more often, tossed empty on the side of the road.

But where you won’t find them sold, at least, is at the public park, Town Hall or any other municipal facility in Babylon Town.

In September, the Town Board decided to pull single-serve water bottles from the town’s vending machines. Instead, water fountains are being upgraded and the town is offering free reusable bottles to residents. The 20-ounce containers are made from plastic that will not leach chemicals, according to the Suffolk County Water Authority, which created the bottles as part of its recently begun campaign to help people “kick the habit” of buying bottled water.

Such an effort represents a trend across America, said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the Washington-based consumer advocacy group Food and Water Watch.

“This year we’re seeing more localities promoting their tap water,” Ms. Hauter said. The weakened economy has made people think twice about buying bottled water, she noted.

In June, the New York City Council announced it would stop making single-serving bottled water available at Council functions. Corporate Accountability International, an advocacy group, has reported that more than 30 cities in the United States and Canada have taken steps to cut spending on bottled water.

On average, a gallon of tap water costs one-thousandth of a gallon of purchased bottled water, according to the Suffolk authority.

Ms. Hauter said the public and local governments were becoming wary of the industry’s assertion that bottled water is better than tap water. “People thought they were getting a better product, and they feel misled,” she said.

Steve Bellone, the Babylon town supervisor, agreed. “The water bottle industry has done an effective job of convincing people that drinking bottled water is good for you,” he said. “But we have some of the most pristine water in the country. You can save some money.”

In response to a report by the Environmental Working Group that attacked bottled water quality, the American Beverage Association said this month that members’ procedures and testing helped ensure that their products met or exceeded federal safety guidelines.

Tap water is as good as, if not superior to, any bottled water you can buy, the Suffolk County Water Authority contends. New York State’s standards for testing water quality are among the strictest in the nation.

Babylon is not the first municipality to promote what the water authority calls “Long Island’s buried treasure.” Also in September, Hempstead Town mailed its residents, along with their water bills, 130,000 brochures extolling the benefits of drinking tap water.

Hempstead is also considering removing bottled water from its vending machines, said Mike Deery, director of communications for the town.

Earlier this year, the Suffolk County Legislature banned the use of public money for buying single-serve bottles of water. However, the law exempts contracts with vending machine suppliers.

The Long Island Neighborhood Network, an environmental group, considers the county measure “a baby step.” A more significant decision would be to eliminate traditional water coolers from municipal offices and replace them with more environmentally sound coolers that filter tap water, said Neal Lewis, the executive director. The organization has installed such a cooler in its East Farmingdale headquarters.

The transportation of water jugs for traditional coolers is as damaging to the environment as transporting single-serve water bottles, Mr. Lewis said. “Water is heavy — it takes a tremendous amount of energy to transport these five-gallon jugs,” he said. “It’s an extraordinarily idiotic waste of diesel fuel, not to mention the fumes.”

According to the Pacific Institute, an environmental research organization, United States plastic bottle production consumes at least 17.6 million barrels of oil annually. Add 49 million barrels of oil to carry the process through filling the bottles with water, transporting them and ultimately recycling of the plastic or putting it in the trash.

But don’t even count on the latter. On Long Island, “nondeposit plastic water bottles tend to be the biggest item found in parks and roadsides as litter,” Mr. Lewis said.