THE BETTER THAN BOTTLED TEAM

Here at the University of Saskatchewan and on campuses across North America, discussions have been mounting over whether or not bottled water should be available. Why is the provision and sale of bottled water such an issue?

There are impacts associated with all of our day-to-day decisions. To better understand these impacts we can ask ourselves questions such as: Where did the materials to make this product come from? How was it produced? What happens to it after we’re done with it?

Answers to these types of questions may illustrate how connected we all are to the global economic market and to broader environmental and social issues.

One of these important daily decisions is whether to drink bottled or tap water.

There are many environmental issues associated with bottled water. A lot of these have to do with the excessive amount of energy, petroleum and resources needed to produce, transport and dispose of bottled water.

For example, a large amount of petroleum is required to produce plastic bottles. Further, the transportation of bottled water (required both in shipping it to the consumer and then shipping it away to be disposed of) uses a lot of energy and leads to carbon emissions. Even plastic bottles that are recycled have an impact on the environment. For example, bottles recycled through Saskatoon’s SARCAN facilities are shipped to Calgary to be chipped and cleaned and are then subjected to further processing elsewhere. These resources are not used to produce the alternative: tap water.

When plastic bottles are not recycled, they end up in a landfill at best, or can linger in the natural environment as litter. This leads to further pressures on our landfills and can result in plastic entering the food web (marine species have been known to ingest plastic litter, which can be detrimental to their health).

Using public tap water keeps water in a local watershed, while bottled water generally involves the transportation of water from one watershed to another. Whether the source of water is groundwater or surface water, the impacts of extracting water from local watersheds has raised many public concerns.

As a consumer, choosing to drink tap water instead of bottled water reduces negative environmental impacts. As well as being a wise environmental choice, tap water also averts many of the social costs associated with bottled water.

When water is placed into a profit-driven market, it is often sold for around 1,000 times more than local tap water. Ultimately, it separates the public into two groups: those who can and those who cannot pay for drinking water. In addition to taking money from consumer’s pockets, paying for bottled water can reduce public access to affordable water that is clean and safe. For example, bottled water availability offers an excuse not to improve the accessibility and functionality of public water fountains. Drinking bottled water supports private control over water resources that could often be more fairly and affordably distributed publicly, ensuring that all citizens are able to access safe drinking water.

Ultimately, we must ask ourselves: who is controlling our access to clean drinking water? What type of water governance structure do we want to support? More specifically, we need to ask ourselves if we would prefer our water to be distributed by a private corporation, such as Coca-Cola (the distributor of the Dasani water sold on our campus), or the City of Saskatoon, a publicly accountable governing body elected by citizens.

In order for our campus community to fully embrace drinking tap water instead of bottled water, we need to answer this important question: Is the tap water on our campus safe to drink? The answer is a resounding “Yes!” Saskatoon’s municipal water is among the best quality in all of Canada. According to the City of Saskatoon website, “Water produced by the City’s Water Treatment Plant meets all, and in most cases is better than, rigorous national drinking water quality standards.” And despite the perception that water fountains are dirty, the water fountains on our campus are cleaned daily, with special attention being paid to the spout and areas which may have been touched by hands.

Not only that, but water chlorine levels are tested monthly by the university’s Workplace Safety and Environmental Protection division, and campus community members can request further testing if they have concerns.

Bottled water may be required as a temporary solution in emergency situations or in places that do not have access to safe public drinking water, but it is clearly not a necessity in our city or on our campus.

Whether or not to drink bottled water is one of many complex global water issues that need to be considered. Water is more than a commodity, more than even a human right. Water supports all humans, all species, all ecosystems — it supports all life. Therefore, we need to make informed decisions regarding how we use our shared water supply.

The Better Than Bottled Water Team is Shannon Dyck, Amanda Hunter, Colleen George and Allison Henderson.

World Water Week runs from March 21-25 and will feature events and speakers across the University of Saskatchewan campus. Click here for more information.

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image: Pete Yee