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By Liz Simmons Fifteen years ago bottled water was something that you’d usually find only in upscale restaurants. Today it seems to be everywhere you look and increasing amounts of people are drinking more and more bottled water. How did a society become convinced that it needed to pay ridiculous amounts of money for something that used to be free from the tap? Probably because there is a huge amount of money, ($11 billion in 2006 alone) to be made by big corporations convincing Americans that bottled water is somehow healthier and cleaner than tap water. Water is a human right. We need it to survive and we shouldn’t let it become just another commodity.
Health and Safety In fact, bottled water is oftentimes not safer or more pure than tap water and in some cases is actually less safe than tap water. The federal government requires stricter testing standards for municipal drinking water than bottled water. Portland has some of the best quality, least-contaminated tap water in the country (it comes from Bull Run Lake in case you were wondering). Our city either meets or surpasses all federal and state drinking water standards. Recent studies have found that bottled water routinely contains contaminants. There is also growing concern about chemicals found in plastic bottles that have been linked to cancer. Expense Bottled water is ridiculously expensive. You can get 748 gallons of Portland tap water for only $2.07 – the price for which you could buy about two corporate bottled waters. Why waste your money? Bottled water is more expensive per gallon than gasoline. Environment Environmentally, bottled water is a disaster. 90 percent of water bottles end up in landfills rather than being recycled. There is also the fact that millions of gallons of oil are consumed in order to produce plastic bottles, not to mention the fuel consumed to ship water all over the world. At PSU Did you know that PSU is ranked #1 in consumption of bottled water in the state of Oregon? We need to work to stop buying so much bottled water. Consider buying a reusable container if you don’t already have one. The PSU Bookstore sells reusable bottles in all kinds of stylish colors and designs. If you’d like to be involved in the Take Back the Tap Campaign to end bottled water consumption at PSU contact Liz at this email address:
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. Visit the Take Back the Tap website for more information: http://takebackthetap.org/.
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