Ban on Bottled Water Makes Me Thirsty
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This is not good news.
Tide has turned on bottled water, says Council of Canadians
Ottawa / March 7, 2009 – The Council of Canadians is claiming a decisive win today against the bottled water industry, with the adoption by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) of a resolution that calls on all municipalities to “phase out the sale and purchase of bottled water at their own facilities where appropriate and where potable water is available; and That municipalities be urged to develop awareness campaigns about the positive benefits and quality of municipal water supplies.”
“The bottled water industry has worked hard to undermine our faith in public water, despite Canada having one of the best public drinking water systems in the world,” says Meera Karunananthan, national water campaigner for the Council of Canadians. “In an era when the world is dealing with the impacts of climate change, the bottled water industry requires massive amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport its goods.”
So far, 27 municipalities across Canada have phased out the sale of bottled water in their facilities. With the adoption of the FCM resolution even more municipalities are expected to take similar actions in the coming months.
[press release]
They even go on to make the argument that water “should be guaranteed to all people regardless of their ability to pay.”
Huh?
Umm .. make sure the water fountains work at the public parks and if you want to suck on that, go right ahead, but don’t take away my right to crack a Dasani cause I like it’s portability and think it tastes better.
(yes I know that many bottled waters are little more than municipal tap water bottled and resold. But they’re sold at a cool temperature and, I do think it tastes better than the stuff that comes out of my tap)
When I go and visit a city, I carry a bottle of water around with me as I walk and tour the town.
If the municipalities get their way, visitors who want to hike around Stanley Park won’t be able to buy a bottle of water to carry on the trails. But they will be allowed to buy a Coke.
How does that make any sense?
In a time when we’re encouraging our schools to ban junk food, we’re encouraging our parks to sell junk drinks.
Go for a long run along the beaches of Kitsilano or around the Stanley Park seawall and try to quench your thirst at a water fountain. The stanky things are turned off most of the year, and when they are turned on the water is stale.
I appreciate the environmental concerns, but you can’t throw the baby out with the bottled water.
(I also understand my position on this issue is violently opposite to the one I take on the Tim Hortons Roll Up The Rim Contest. I’m contrarian that way.)
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
Well, at the risk of stating the obvious, what about having a non-disposable, reusable plastic bottle at home that you clean out and refill regularly with Brita filtered water at home, and just taking that with you? I’ve never really found that to be a huge hassle.
I do use Brita at home and it’s funny how water I keep in the fridge tastes so much better than the stuff from the tap (despite the fact it’s from the tap)
Perhaps it’s a reasonable request, but I just find it odd that they want to ban the sale of healthy water yet maintain the sale of sugary drinks. They both have the same environmental impact, and if water’s not for sale people will buy pop.
So which would you rather have available for tourists and those who didn’t bring along an extra bottle?
We have a Brita water filter at home, but even with that our water sometimes comes out dirty (you can actually see the dirt). We started buying drinking water from the Save-On down the street where you can refill large containers, but then one day when there was a problem with the pipes in Burnaby and all our water was dark brown, Save-On announced they couldn’t sell the water because the water they sold came from the same pipes. Now we buy drinking water in bottles from Costco. If they ban bottled water, where are we going to find clean drinking water? Our building and many others in Burnaby don’t have a reliable source of clean drinkable water.
I think we’ve all gotten a little crazy about what we consider “clean” water. I drink water from my tap every day. Several times a day. In fact: I refuse to buy bottled water. I was amazed when I first moved from Toronto at how much BETTER the water tasted here and immediately began drinking it straight from the faucet. I do not have a Brita or a filter of any kind. The water that flows from Vancouver’s taps is amongst the cleanest and best testing in the Western world. It flows from the mountains into the reservoir above the city (where there is no agriculture or development to pollute it) and passes through some of the best filtration systems in the world.
Not once in my 6 years of being a resident here have I experienced any adverse effects and even during our ‘boil water advisory’ I did just fine. I kept water in a plastic juice jug in the fridge and any bit of silt simply settled on the bottom. Again: No filtration needed.
Yes, I agree banning water but leaving pop available is silly–but so is anyone who says that carrying around a reusable bottle is a hassle. The problem with bottled water isn’t so much the water as the PLASTIC required to contain it. Imagine the sheer volume of oil and carbon emissions generated in producing and even recycling all of those billions of bottles–extracting and transporting the oil used to make the plastic, powering factories producing the plastic, shipping the bottles via truck and ship over long distances, etc etc etc. The waste generated before you even open, drink and toss those bottles is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary–and then you still have the issue of the thrown away plastic to deal with for 35,000 years.
Yes, the fountains in our parks should become more of a priority for the city and made cleaner and more usable, but they aren’t the health hazard you imagine (didn’t we all grow up drinking daily from the water fountain at school? Please note: We’re not dead). Yes, bottled water should be available in extreme circumstances. But please: Buy a decent bottle and refill it as needed. The water industry has managed to convince everyone that we’re somehow in danger if we drink our own water, then they bottle exactly that and sell it back to us. It’s one of the biggest scams in history. And for anyone that thinks they are being ’safe’ by drinking bottled water, try again. Visiting India was a good example. The sickest I’ve ever gotten was from a purchased bottle of water in Delhi. Some enterprising person discovered how easy it was to profit from stupid Western tourists by filling and re-sealing bottles they find on the street.
We have clean, potable water here and no need for wastefulness like bottled and we should all take advantage of it. Conserve where you can, people. If everyone did a little more of that we’d be in a better position overall.
And PS. to anyone who finds “dirt” in the bottom of their Brita: The filters are made with minerals and charcoal and generally any sludge you find is the result of your Brita, not the water. This is why I tend not to use one. Ick.
Be careful which reusable water bottle you’re using – wouldn’t want one with BPA in it.
http://www.buzzbishop.com/blog/2008/04/16/what-to-do-about-bpa-bispehenol-a/
[...] The decision by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to encourage it’s members to stop selling bottled water has stirred up debate. [...]
*Every* water bottle has BPA in it
lol When I say you can see the dirt, I’m not referring the usual black dots on the bottom of the Brita – it’s actually dirt as in the brown stuff that makes the water look as if it just came from a mudslide. It even leaves a rim of oily grime on the tub if you let the water sit for a minute. I’ll take a picture of it the next time it happens (happens about twice each year).
I completely agree with you that it’s not any better to sell soft drinks in bottles either.
However… I will say this
About 8 years ago I started drinking bottled water ALL the time. Even at home with dinner, even when out. I can’t even begin to tell you how many cases I went through. I’m ashamed even now to think of it!
We have some of the best drinking water in the whole world. We’re so fortunate!
About 2 years ago I decided to completely stop drinking bottled water unless absolutely necessary, and I switched to a SIGG water bottle for the gym to refill at the water fountains. At work I drink out of the water filtration tower, and at home I run the tap for a few seconds until it is cold and I drink that at home.
It’s amazing how quickly you get used to the taste. As long as you run the water for a couple seconds so it is cold, it tastes great!
I think you should try it Buzz… you might like it and feel a little more environmentally conscious if you gave it a try for a week. I challenge you to try and drink tap water for ONE WEEK!
I’ll donate to the Surfrider foundation if you do……………… 
One more question, when you go to restaurants and they give you tap water with ice… do you drink it? Or do you normally ask for a bottle of water?
I’m not saying all tap water is bad, just saying removing the water from the shelves isnt the solution. Educating people to recycle their bottles, or choose tap is the proper tack.
True enough, well said.