Student Action

US: Campaign at OU asks students to drop the bottle, hit the tap

The Athens News. By Maria Gallucci Athens NEWS Campus Reporter -

Bottled water has become about as commonplace on Ohio University's campus as hooded sweatshirts and jaywalking.

Plastic bottles are easy to carry, refill and to throw away. However, as cities nationwide promote their own tap water, a campus network is joining the movement and bringing attention to the environmental costs of convenience.

Early this month, the Green Network launched its "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign, an initiative to end bottled-water usage on campus and in the wider Athens community.

The organization, coordinated by the OU Office of Sustainability, so far has collected about 80 pledges to cut out all bottled water consumption and opt for tap water instead.

The Beverage Marketing Corporation reported that in 2006, the average American consumed 27.6 gallons of bottled water, with 8.25 billion gallons consumed overall in this country.

"As long as places sell bottled water, I think that people will most likely buy bottled water," said Erin Sykes, a graduate assistant in OU's Office of Sustainability. "I think it works because it is so convenient. You just grab (a bottle) and it's full for you and you can carry it around. I think people have the misconception that bottled water is healthier than tap water... which is not true."

According to the OU office, the city of Athens' tap water is more tightly regulated and monitored by the state Environmental Protection Agency than bottled water. In addition, a fourth of all bottled water comes from tap water. Last summer, Pepsi's Aquafina and Coca-Cola's Dasani bottled water brands began explicitly stating their sources -- public water reservoirs -- after pressure from environmental activists.

Despite the stringent regulations, many people still don't like the taste of Athens tap water, and purchasing bottled water is an easy alternative, said Leah Graham, a graduate assistant in the sustainability office.

"You don't want to taste the bad water, so you just buy another bottled water because you don't think of (another) option," she said. Water filters can improve the taste of tap water, and reusable water bottles can cut back on waste, she added.

Carlos Vega-Posada, a graduate student from Colombia, said that while he and his 2-year-old daughter actually love the taste of Athens tap water, his decision to not buy bottled water is mostly because it's too expensive -- usually costing $4 to $6 for a case of 24 20-ounce bottles.

An OU student, for example, who purchases a case of water each week can spend $120 on bottled water in a year, according to the organization, meaning water costs more per-ounce than gasoline.

"It is amazing people consider it a reasonable expense," said Sonia Marcus, the Office of Sustainability coordinator.

The Earth Policy Institute (EPI), a non-governmental organization, reports that while the country spends more than $40 billion a year to provide free, clean tap water, American consumers spend more than $15 billion to buy bottled water.

Part of the campaign's goals is to promote "media literacy, health literacy and environmental literacy," Marcus said, adding that advertising manipulates consumers to use more bottled water and that store-bought water has no health benefits over tap water.

The organization chose to highlight bottled-water consumption among other environmental issues because it is so prevalent on campus, and because students in the organization were so concerned with waste generated from non-recycled plastic water bottles, she said.

"It is something very tangible that all students can do," Sykes said. "It is something right here, right now that they can change."

The Green Network reports that less than 15 percent of plastic water bottles are recycled nationwide. On OU's campus, only 25 to 30 percent of all recyclable items in general are recycled, though Marcus did not know specifically how many plastic bottles are recycled here.

"It is something that we see all the time, from the dorms to professors," Graham said. "It is just something that is in our culture, and it seemed that we could have a lot of impact on everybody."

Graham said she hopes the initiative will help break people's habits of bottled-water consumption. The group is pushing for a complete move away from bottled water, and is focusing more on consumption reduction rather than recycling efforts, she said.

Matt Baker, an Athens resident, said he signed the network's pledge on Tuesday because he frequently uses bottled water and wants to make a conscious effort to help the environment, including reducing waste and cutting back expenses.

However, as the Green Network and the national "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign (to which the OU group is not affiliated) launch efforts to reduce consumption and production, the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) has begun its own campaign.

In an Aug. 3, 2007 press release, IBWA President and CEO Joseph Doss said, "Some groups seek to pit bottled water against public drinking water systems. But bottled water is all about beverage choice, available to consumers in all walks of life who choose, or rely upon, bottled water for refreshment and hydration. Any actions that discourage the use of this healthy beverage choice are not in the public interest."

That same day, the IBWA placed full-page advertisements in the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. Last July, officials in New York City began campaigning for tap-water consumption, and last June, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom banned the use of city funds to purchase single-serving plastic water bottles.

The IBWA explains on its Web site, www.bottledwater.org, that, "Plastic beverage bottles are among the most recycled packaging in the United States and beverage companies continue to reduce the amount of plastic used in their packaging."

Despite the industry's efforts to increase recycling and biodegradable packing, bottled water continues to negatively impact the environment, according to statistics from the Green Network and the Pacific Institute, a California-based think tank.

"Upstream consequences" of the bottled-water industry include the costs of energy and material used in production, the cost of fuel used to transport the bottles, and the industry's strain on public-water supplies, Marcus said. The network states that manufacturing water bottles for U.S. consumption requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually.

The Pacific Institute estimates that the energy used for "pumping and processing, transportation and refrigeration" of bottled water in the United States requires more than 50 million barrels of oil, according to an EPI report released in December.

Marcus said the Green Network initiative has received only positive feedback from members of the university and Athens communities, and that the campaign's intentions are not to attack people who use bottled water, but to better inform consumers about the impact of their choices.

The Green Network is an umbrella organization representing about 750 members, including students, staff and other groups interested in environmental sustainability.