City of Seattle Gives Bottled Water the Boot
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03.19.08
Photo credit: LeeBrimelow
First San Francisco banned it. Then Chicago started taxing it. Now, the city of Seattle is taking action against bottled water; last week, Mayor Greg Nickels signed an executive order to stop the city from buying bottled water. That means no more bottled water at city facilities and events, which may sound like a small step, but it'll make a big difference; last year, the city spent $58,000 on the stuff (and that's not including the true cost and carbon footprint of bottled water). We're willing to bet that the city's taxpayers can probably think of about 58,000 ways to better spend that money.
The move isn't just an issue of saving money, though that is a nice ancillary effect. It's also a strong vote of confidence in the city's municipal water supply and treatment systems; in light of the fracas about prescription drugs in our water last week, it's good to see the city standing behind its tap water and encouraging its employees and citizens to drink up.
Further, “This is a matter of leading by example,” Nickels said. “The people of Seattle own one of the best water supplies in the country, every bit as good as bottled water and available at a fraction of the price. When you add up the tremendous environmental costs of disposable plastic bottles clogging our landfills, the better choice is crystal clear.”
According to the city's press release, "The mayor’s order -- which applies only to city departments -- is the first step in an effort to promote Seattle’s water and get people to consider kicking the bottle habit." What else does the Emerald City have up her sleeve? Grab a glass of tap water, take a sip and stay tuned for more. ::City of Seattle and ::Seattle Times via ::Greenline
See also: ::A World of Reasons to Ditch Bottled Water, ::Drugs Are In Our Water! Should I Switch to Bottled?, and ::Bottled Water Drinkers are the New Smokers
Seattle doesn't have to worry too much about prescription drugs in the water. Nearly all the water comes from reservoirs from watersheds in the Cascades. Other than maybe the 'runoff' from a couple hunters, there isn't much of a way for prescriptions to make it into that uninhabited land.
Are you sure Seattle doesn't get their water from Lake Roosevelt?
I know here in Portland we get Bull Run, which is the best in the United States, however Lake Roosevelt is a highly contaminated Lake!
I also think it's a great idea and wish Portland would ban more things like plastic bags and bottles. That would be bliss!
Carrie:
"The Cedar River Municipal Watershed is carefully managed to supply clean drinking water to 1.4 million people in the greater Seattle area. The watershed covers 90,638 acres and is owned by the City of Seattle. Melting snow and rain are gathered and stored in two reservoirs -- Chester Morse Lake and the Masonry Pool created by the Masonry Dam. "
Sheesh, whatever happened to watching out for Big Brother? Now the government presumes to tell us where to get our water? I think it's preposterous that our mayor feels the need to dictate where and how we should drink and I feel like it's silly that the government is having more and more of a presence in all of our lives and yet we stand by and applaud. If you don't support bottled water, don't buy it, but don't presume to remove the option from others.
An excellent move, I applauded vigorously.
Next thing they ought to do is ban all plastics and unnecessary chemicals.
When that happens, I'll stand up and cheer, waving my arms like a lunatic.
An excellent move, I applauded vigorously.
Next thing they ought to do is ban all plastics and unnecessary chemicals.
When that happens, I'll stand up and cheer, waving my arms like a lunatic.
why just water bottles? why not all plastic beverage bottles--sodas, fruit juices, sport drinks, etc.?
I agree with Chris. Many people are just going to purchase other bottled beverages. Why discriminate against just water (which is the healthier choice) when so many other beverages use the same packaging?
America is the land of the free, right? We should be free to choose what the heck to buy and what water to drink. SEATTLE is unjust and we ought not tolerate this any longer.
We are losing our rights one by one... what will be next?
A smoker and now bottled water drinker in Ohio!
The mayor didn't ban bottled water -- he just stopped wasting taxpayer money on the stuff. Seeing as 40% of bottled water (including Dasani and Aquafina) is nothing more than municipal tapwater sold at a few hundred times the price it is a very wise decision.
As for taste -- rarely do folks do better than flipping a coin when trying to pick between bottled and tap water (no suprise here -- it's usually the same).
American cities provide some of the cleanest, safest, and best water in the world. Cheers to the Mayor of Seattle for thinking outside the bottle!
So isn't recycling a better option for all the plastic bottles? Plus this will allow all of us to continue to drink clean water.
Are you kidding me? They're just trying to get even more sodium Flouride into our boddies. Anyone who doesn't know about sodium flouride needs to do research immediately.
And don't call me a conspiracy theorist unless you've done the research. It's a FACT that the stuff is a toxic chemical and is damaging our brains, yet our government pumps it into us and claims it to be healthy.
BIG difference between calcium flouride and sodium flouride people. WAKE UP. Stop drinking your tap water, drink an equal ammount of SPRING WATER (filtered water often leaves the stuff in there, just read a BRITA box) and I promise you'll feel better in 1 month. NO DOUBT.
Sick people are good for the economy, folks.
And i thought we originally went to plastic because it was recyclable and good for environment! Time to stop using the 'environment-friendly' as a term for anti-capitalist!
Gee- great idea Seattle. Now where will you place all of the empty plastic, paper, or styro cups people will use instead?
This is bs so people in seattle cant get a bottle of water when there out thats def bull. if people go to a store and want a drink they cant get a bottle of water they have to get soda or joice thats doesnt give people the choice.
Wow?! Greg decides to "save" the Seattle taxpayers 58,000 on bottled water but decides to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the South Lake Union Trolley or S.L.U.T. that goes nowhere and is a complete waste of time and money. This guy is in the pocket of some of the richest people on earth and is corrupt as can be. His own child is now a felon for taking part in a gambling scheme at a local casino. What an ubsurd waste of time and money. Ride the S.L.U.T. Greg!!
I think that banning the bottled water is taking away the rights of all Americans, the country that was founded for freedom. Now if something offends one person or one race they ban it, forgetting what everyone else wants. If you don't support bottled water, platic bags, or other plastic items, then don't buy them. You're not going to do away with plastic it every where, toys, cars, medical equipment, tools. Lets not forget there are recycling facilities do dispose of plastic materials. Also, companies such as Beaulieu of America melt down plastic bottles and make polyester carpets at a lower price than nylon. There are more important things to worry about other than a ban on bottled water, such as a drought in the south east of the United States.
I think everyone against this is over reacting. They can still buy bottled water in stores, just not at government events. If you want a water bottle there, buy a reusable one and bring it yourself. I think it's a great idea.
That's not the case at all. People have a choice-they will still be able to buy bottled water if they want it, it just won't be on the city's dime. Everything that isn't state-owned will still be able to sell it. Seattle is doing a great thing here! If someone wants to waste their money buying something that they could get more easily (and for free) out of the tap, then there is no reason why Seattle should be paying for it. Of course it's good to push recycling as well, but baby steps are necessary in weaning the American people off of this ridiculous obsession with "pure" bottled water.
i think it's funny all u guys are sitting here talking about water.
Banning bottled water? I can't believe people think this is a good idea. I'm going to laugh when a terrorist poisons their water supply and they all die. Not that it can't happen with bottled water too, but they just took away the choice!! And Chicago taxing it makes me dream of things like the Boston Tea Party. Ahhh, what it must have been like to live in a country with people who fought for their rights instead of giving them away at every opportunity.
Here's a solution... instead of banning it, put a bottle deposit on the bottle!! They'll never end up in a landfill again. In Michigan, we have the highest bottle deposit in the country, and you almost NEVER see bottles anywhere but in the return bin at the stores!!!
I am sick and tired of losing ground to people who think they can make up my mind for me. I want my country back!!!
Maybe the overweight Seattle mayor should ban himself from pastries as well. Bad for his health and besides all the grain used in making the pastries could be used to produce more in-efficient ethanol. Hypocrite. Government has to stay out of peoples lives.
Does anyone even bother to read the article? It says that the mayor wont let the CITY buy anymore bottled water. No where does it state that you cant buy it personally. Jeez people quit your whining and start appreciating the $58,000 that he just wiped off the budget. I for one appreciate any cuts like this.
The first question I have is why are all those recyclable plastic bottles being landfilled? You are at least 20 years behind the times there.
The second is how are you going to hydrate municipal workers in hot weather? This may be the easier of the two to answer, but is still significant. One heatstroke case resulting in hospitalization will wipe out any supposed savings.
The headline and body of the article do not agree, as is usual with many newspapers. I saw nothing in the body of the article banning the sale of bottled water, just a statement that the City would not be purchasing it. Which is correct, headline or article?
Its Ironically we are been foreced to recycle...Do they not know the toxics that recycle plants make?
WOW, so many people, who all knew they were being taken for a ride already, act as if they are just waking up to an already established fact.
You don't really think that a couple of planes made the two towers fall at freefall speed do ya?
no of course not, 911 was an inside job and everyone even the sceptics know it was.
Just video-google - loosechange 2nd edition.
or 911 in planesite.
Water isn't the only thing you have to worry about,
go to prisonplanet.com for further investigations on many other topics.
have fun little ones.
there are companies out there now that are making decomposable plastics. the shelf life is appr a year, and once the decomposition begins, the process a matter of weeks. why not insist the same for as many consumable items sold in plastic containers?
and take it further....isn't there an enterprising paper company out there that has figured out how we can reforest from all the paper that goes to waste?? isn't there some way that you can put spores in all the JUNK mail? :) Why isn't there a ban on that crap?
stop killing trees, grow hemp
I think it's a great thing. The mayor isn't saying you can't drink bottled, but he is saying that the CITY will not be paying for bottled water any more.
You still have a choice to purchase it yourself. That extra money can go into some politician's pocket...or to other services. hm.
I use reverse osmosis at home.I stopped buying bottle water years ago.The filter replacements cost $100.00 a year including the shower filter.I don't know how clean the water is where any of you live,but I live in Los Angeles and there is no way on this earth I'll drink this tap water.
I really don't think that most of the people that posted here read the article. The mayor is not banning the sell of bottled water to the entire city population, only to the City Government offices / functions.
I know that its a lost cause to post, sense the people that obviously only read the title wll NEVER read any of these posts.
Tap water makes me sick. Like "can't get out of bed sick". I'm never going to seattle now.
Personally, I have no problem with tap water as long as the municipalities do not fluoridate the water supply.
Fluorides accumulate in your system. My thyroid problem my have resulted from too much flouride. It displaces vital iodine in the thyroid.
Fluoride MAY help children (and only children) avoid cavaties, however, they receive more than enough just from canned goods, toothpaste and municipal-water-source bottled water. Even tea is loaded with it. Yes, green tea too.
Check out the research studies. The web has plenty of free sources.
It turns out that many industrial processes leave fluorides as a waste by-product. By convincing municipalities to fluoridate they are effectively using humans as an inexpensive, and even profitable way to dispose of their HAZMAT. The EPA is extraordinarily strict about the disposal of fluorine and fluorides. Look at the poison warning on your toothpaste (albeit, in tiny print). It's also used to soak wood telephone poles to keep the termites away. It is a very effective insecticide, but it has the nasty propensity to taint the groundwater.
Meanwhile, I have to take a prescription synthetic thyroid hormone and stay away from fluorides.
As soon as my municipality quits introducing fluoride into the water supply I will quit buying spring water.
Hey Seattle I have a better idea why don't you bottled your own tap water and sell it to your residents than you can make more money that is the solution to your problem!!!
I think Fluoride and Chlorine are a bigger threat.
lol Scott..true, true..lol.
Its obvious that some CEO in the "Bottled Water" industry did not contribute too the Mayors of Seattle, San Fran, & Chicago's Political campaign!
or any democratic candidate.
The same thing happened too Bill Gates & Microsoft back in the Clinton days---He refused too give money too the Clinton campaign or His "Library"/"Massage Parlor"--so they "Sicked" The Justice Dept on them.
That is great......... but what about the rest of the plastic encased beverages that make up the other 99% of the problem?
So on a hot day, at public events, there will be long lines at the drinking fountains. Sounds good.
And for a major city like Seattle, $58k doesn't seem like a heck of a lot.
I'm sure there are other things in the city that could be changed to save more significant amounts of money
That is great......... but what about the rest of the plastic encased beverages that make up the other 99% of the problem?
Almost all bottled drinks are bad for the environment- look at all the soft drinks that have no nutritional value that are sold. They too are filling up landfills. If we got rid of all those bad soft drinks and everyone bought a juicer and made their own fresh juices everyday or drank tap water then the environment would be alot better off.
Perhaps those empty fruit juice bottles can be put to use after all by using them to store Seattle Tap Water in the event of an emergency?
Does anyone even read the article before typing?
Half of you either read the headline and then went right away into rant mode or have zero reading comprehension skills. Either way, this was the first and last article on Treehugger I ever bother to look at the comments for.
If only the politicians were this responsible with all of the taxpayers money. Nichols should look into banning studded tires next to save on the ridiculous amount of road work that needs to be done due to the darn things. Chains and good snow tires are plenty good.
Then again with this money they save they will just find some other needless way to waste it.
It's freaking recyclable!! Isn't that why we use plastic? What am I going to drink out of at a Seahawks game now?
90% of you didn't even read the article. Wow. I can see the schools are doing a great job.
Seattle isn't banning tap water. The Seattle govt is no longer going to spend 58,000 dollars on bottled water when it has tap. This is a good thing because A: Bottled water is a stupid thing to waste taxpayer money on. B: It shows confidence in the cleanliness of the city's water, Seattle is the 2nd cleanest city in the country. And C: Bottled water causes a lot of pollution, this cuts down on that.
You can still buy bottled water.
And Tony, yes, you are a conspiracy nut. Sorry.
I think these bans go too far. I don't mind the ban for offices since there's easy access to the tap, but road crews should still be able to carry bottled water with them on the road. Has the mayor ever been with a road crew before? It's a very dirty job! I guess they have one dedicated waterboy to refill 50 mugs every morning for every crew. Did the mayor think of that? Crews have to deal with grimy hands, so I guess they have a crew of dishwashers too to clean up these mugs? So much for saving $58K when it costs more to pay the waterboy/dishwasher! Talk about a waste of $$$!
I also don't agree with the ban for government events. What happens when there is a community meeting or event where refreshments are served in the middle of nowhere (ie parks, rec centers) where there is no easy access to tap? Use the water fountain (if there is any)? No way! Do you know how contaminated those things are?! So I guess you're forced to drink soda. Let's increase the obesity epidemic instead! Not very smart!
A