As published in the Lafayette Today newspaper.
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Plastic water bottles seem to be everywhere in Lafayette. Bottled water sales in the Bay Area and U.S. are surging and unfortunately so are the environmental costs that come with it. Drinking tap water and minimizing your use of bottled water is one of the easiest ways to do something good for your pocketbook and the environment.
Last year Americans drank more than 8.25 billion gallons of bottled water, a 9.5% increase from the previous year. That is an average of 8 ounces of bottled water per person, per day or 28 gallons per year. We now buy more bottled water than any other beverage except soft drinks.
Although drinking water is healthy and should be encouraged, buying water in disposable containers is not necessary and not good for the environment. Fortunately, the United States has one of the cleanest and safest water supplies in the World and tap water is actually more stringently tested for safety than bottled water. And 25-40% of bottled water comes from municipal water supplies anyway, including the two leading brands: Aquafina and Dasani.
The reasons to use tap water whenever possible are compelling:
Good for the Environment – Drinking tap water also avoids all of the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions required to produce a bottle of water and get it to a market in Lafayette. Oil is used to make the plastic bottle, to process and fill the bottle, to ship it from out of town or across the ocean, to refrigerate it, and finally to recycle it. The Earth Policy Institute estimates that just to make the plastic for the bottles burns up something like 1.5 million barrels of oil, enough to power 100,000 cars for a year.
Drinking tap water also avoids all the unnecessary waste that is produced. In the U.S. alone, 30 million water bottles get tossed out each day. Since less than 25% are recycled, 2 billion pounds per year end up in landfills. Even the bottles that are recycled cost a small fortune in gasoline to haul to recycling centers.
Drinking tap water rather than buying bottled water saves money and is one of the simplest things you can do to reduce your family’s energy and waste footprint. Use a water filter if you prefer the taste, and buy a few reusable water bottles to fill and take with you when you’re on the go.
To read success stories about how residents in Lafayette are reducing their waste and living more sustainably:
http://www.sustainablelafayette.net/
link to PDF of Lafayette Today that
included article on page 16