Student Action

Canada: Free water helps students stop using disposable water bottles

The Peterborough Examiner. By Andrea Houston -

Although he couldn't tell the difference between the bottled water and the reverse osmosis water, Fleming College student John Aska said the tap water distinctly tastes like chlorine.

"I am a bottled water drinker," said social services student Aska, 20, who was taking part in a water taste test yesterday.

"This is a good idea. I'll probably use it if they install more systems around the school."

The F-H20 program is headed up by students in the college's applied projects program to tackle the environmental issue of disposable water bottles.

"We are trying to encourage people to stop using brand bottled water and instead use reusable bottles and refill them for free," said marketing student Dan Goldstein, 22.

"The idea is to reduce waste."

Recently a reverse osmosis filter was installed at the college's Sutherland Campus on Brealey Drive, said marketing student and F-H20 program co-ordinator Mike Gow.

Along with the filter, four new water bottle refill stations and two drinking fountains were strategically placed at high traffic areas throughout the campus.

The reverse osmosis system cost about $50,000, he said.

"It was a major project," Gow said. "They changed the whole plumbing system."

In the main foyer of the campus yesterday, marketing students invited people to participate in the water taste test.

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Lauren Toth poured three types of water - municipal tap water, brand bottled water and reverse osmosis water - into tiny cups for people to try yesterday.

Alice Keenan, 39, said there was something distinctly "unclean" about the tap water.

"The bottled water and the reverse osmosis water were very similar tasting," Keenan said.

Reverse osmosis is a common method of purification for ground and surface fresh water.

The process removes molecular compounds smaller in size than water molecules, such as salt, manganese, iron, fluoride, lead and calcium.

Those who participated in the taste test had their names entered into a draw to win a Fleming College reusable water bottle, Gow said.

The college will phase in more water refill stations in the spring. Lloyd Clive, business and materials management teacher, was the first to sample the water from the refill stations.

"Not only does it get people drinking more water, which keeps us healthy, it gets rid of the plastic bottles," Clive said. "Plus the water is free, which is great for the students."

The manufacturing, distribution and disposal of bottled water has a negative effect on the environment, Gow said.

According to the Environment and Plastics Industry Council, 88 per cent of water bottles are not recycled and 65,000 tonnes of beverage containers end up in landfills or incineration.

About 20 per cent of Canadians drink bottled water, according to the Polaris Institute, an advocacy group that launched a bottled-water awareness campaign last year. The Canadian Bottled Water Association says revenue for the bottled water industry topped $652 million in 2005.

ahouston@peterboroughexaminer.com

Stations

F-H20 stations at Fleming College's Sutherland Campus:

- Beside the men's washroom 203B

- Beside the president's office

- Beside Room 550

- Beside the men's washroom 348

- Fountain beside Room 5903

- Fountain beside Room 3602