Harbus

Issue date: 4/21/09 Section: Green Living

In his latest comedy special, Chris Rock jokes that in America, consumers often create demand for products or services that are free to the public. One of products that Rock highlighted was bottled water - specifically emergence of the multi-billion dollar bottled water industry. Many people claim that they drink bottled water because it is healthier and it tastes better, or they have a fundamental distrust toward the public water supply. However, with Americans consuming over 25 billion bottles of water every year, one is left to wonder if the aforementioned justifications are valid.

To visually demonstrate the bottled water damage we do here at HBS, fellow Green Living Representative Vincent Benjamin (OH) and I set out 200 water bottles on the lawn between Spangler and Aldrich for one day - representing just a fraction of our impact. Signs along the display pointed out that with just 10 students in every section drinking one bottle a day, we are leaving behind a trail of approximately 54,000 bottles each academic year. Still other signs pointed out other little known facts - that Boston water is tested daily, and it is some of the best in the country.

For many, a distrust of the public water supply is the primary reason for purchasing bottled water. However, the next time you take a sip from your Aquafina bottle please read the label and pay attention to the part of the label that reads "Bottled at the Source P.W.S." Many have speculated the P.W.S. is a water filtration facility or a new purification method, but P.W.S. actually stands for public water supply. Twenty-four percent of the bottled water that is manufactured, including Dasani and Aquafina, is basically reprocessed and packaged "tap water." As consumers, in many cases, we are simply paying for transportation and bottling costs.

The taste of bottled water is also used as a reason why many people purchase bottled water instead of consuming "tap water." During a blind taste test of tap and bottled water held in the Grille in early April, only 1 out of 5 students guessed correctly. Additionally when asked to rate taste, most responded that Boston tap water tasted just fine.

One of the reasons for these results is that the FDA has adopted the same standards for bottled water that the EPA has in place for tap water. With nearly identical filtration and purification processes in place, the consumer should be confident that the water coming from the tap is free of the same contaminants as the bottled water on the shelf or in the vending machine.

The next time you have to decide between buying a bottle of water from the vending machine versus refilling your reusable water bottle, I implore you to think about the negative effects that overconsumption of bottled water has on our environment. The substitutes to bottled water not only benefit the environment, but can also benefit the individual as well, because at $1.55 per bottle, the costs of regularly consuming bottled water can certainly add up.

AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY
Garry Thaniel is the Green Living Representative for Gallatin Hall.  After graduating from Bucknell University in 2004, he worked in the buying office at Lord and Taylor Department Store, helping to make moms all over the east coast look cool.

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