Ditch the bottled water and turn the tap

Just in time for Earth Day, let me introduce my new campaign to help our environment by reducing some of the tons of plastic destined for our landfills.

To wit, let me propose that we end the nearly ubiquitous practice of providing bottled water at various meetings and gatherings throughout the land.

Were bottles of water available at any of the various meetings or events you've attended recently? Chances are there were.

For example, go to a concert at Geneva High School and there will be a reception afterward with treats, punch and, probably, bottled water. Receptions at other events generally feature bottled water, too.

In fact, attend a meeting almost anywhere, day or night, and you'll most likely be offered bottled water to sip while you sit. (Though not at Geneva City Council meetings. Bottled water is not served up for aldermen, staff or attendees.)

Let's consider the impact on the environment and our pocketbooks. Then, let's just stop. Let tap water flow.

Instead of bottled water, meeting hosts can provide ice water in pitchers to be served in paper cups, or even washable cups. (Deciding who washes the dishes is up to you. I'm just the big-picture person here.)

Or, attendees can head to a nearby water cooler and fill glasses from said cooler. That's how Geneva school board members obtain their H2O during board meetings.

I've been mulling this idea ever since a Geneva High School PTO discussion several months ago that concerned the special meals served to teachers and staff during parent-teacher conferences. The topic wasn't water, but that came up somewhere along the way.

"Let's forget the bottled water," I proposed, pitching this as helpful to the environment. "Teachers all have coffee mugs in their rooms. Serve water in pitchers and they can bring their mugs and fill them up there."

To say the others in attendance thought I was misguided is probably the kindest interpretation of the reaction to my scheme. I told a friend of mine they looked at me as though I had four heads.

"They thought you were crazy," she confirmed, helpfully.

So I don't think the water bottles will be going away any time soon. But they should.

At the PTO meeting, I pointed out that we -- those who provide, as well as those who partake -- would be setting a great, green example for kids. My husband and I have told our kids that, back in the old days, kids didn't have water bottles in school, they just went to the drinking fountain in the hallway. Our girls responded that we just don't know what it's like today. So this is going to be a tough sell, I fear.

But it's a necessary one. And I'm hardly the first to come up with this idea.

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner recently announced the city will wean itself over the next three months from bottled water purchased with city funds. Instead, the city will serve up its own tap water, which recently received top honors for taste by the Illinois Section of the American Water Works Association.

An October USA Today story reported that the mayors of Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and San Francisco all have either asked city employees not to use bottled water or have banned city spending on such water.

Santa Barbara, Calif., did what Aurora is proposing to do: stopped buying bottled water and started serving tap water at city functions. And last June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors approved a resolution emphasizing the importance of municipal water supplies. The resolution also attempts to highlight the impact of bottled water on city waste.

Aurora spent more than $20,000 last year on water -- both in coolers in public buildings and in bottles to be served at meetings, according to a published report. It wasn't just the cost, though, that led to the recent decision to go with tap water. City officials also cited the environmental impact of bottled water.

According to Earth911.org in 1976, Americans consumed an average 1.6 gallons of bottled water each. In 2006, the average American consumed 28.3 gallons, drinking about 167 bottles of water each. The site says that 80 percent of bottles become landfill waste and that it takes more than 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year's supply of bottled water -- enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars.

I acknowledge that as I go about my daily life, it's generally easy for me to forego water bottles. I work primarily from my home, where the coffee mug gets rinsed out about 10:30 a.m. or so, to be filled with tap water instead of caffeine. I refill as needed; no bottles required or desired.

I followed the same routine when I did work in offices, but that was long before the bottled water boom.

And let the record show that I do indulge in bottles upon occasion. If the water is there, I'll take a bottle. But if it's not, I can cope nicely, thank you.

I think others can, too. Frame this proposal as being better for the environment -- and that's my biggest consideration, by the way -- and cheaper for whoever's paying. Why not spend less if you can?

So come on! Tilt at windmills with me and join my cause.

Let's propose a toast to helping Mother Earth -- and I want to hear not the dull thud of plastic hitting plastic, but the satisfying clink of washable, reusable, environmentally-friendly coffee mugs.

bbales10@ameritech.net