Ban Bottled Water Day at Union!

Today at Union College there is no bottled water being sold on campus in an effort to raise awareness for the need to ban bottled water. You may be thinking, "I'm confused? Water is a natural product from the earth, why are these crazy environmentalists telling me that I shouldn't be drinking it?" While yes, water is a natural and comes from the earth, the packaging of bottled water is just a way for the bottled water industry to get you to pay for something you can have essentially for FREE! Some people are skeptical about drinking tap water but the truth is that 47.8% of bottled water is actually filtered tap water!

And what about Schenectady drinking water? How safe is that? It's extremely safe and tastes great! Here are a few excerpts from the City Of Schenectady: Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

"In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, the State and the EPA prescribe regulations which limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by Public Water Systems. The State Health Department’s and the FDA’s regulations establish limits for contaminant’s in bottled water which must provide the same protection for public health. Our water source is a clean and plentiful groundwater aquifer called the Great Flats Aquifer. The water from the aquifer is pumped into the system through a series of twelve 70 foot drilled wells located at the treatment plant on Rice Road in the Town of Rotterdam. The water produced by the wells is of excellent quality prior to treatment. Chlorination, fluoridation and inorganic phosphates provide the only treatment required. During 2012, our system did not experience any restriction of our water source." 

"We test your drinking water for inorganic contaminants, radiological contaminants, lead and copper, nitrate, volatile organic contaminants, and synthetic organic contaminants. In addition, we test seventy samples for coliform bacteria each month." 

Many water bottled companies want to convince you that the water that you're drinking is unsafe and tastes bad, but in taste tests across the country, people actually preferred the taste of tap water to bottled water! 

And whats the problem with the plastic bottles?

~Studies by the Natural Resources Defense Council explained that "....there is no assurance that bottled water is any safer than tap water." 

~The production of water bottles uses 17 million barrels of oil a year, this is enough to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year!  

~In terms of water usage, it takes three times the water to make a water bottle as it does to fill it! 

~Of the 50 billion plastic water bottles that were used last year, only 23% were recycled! This left over 38 billion water bottles to go strait to the landfill. 

~Water bottles can take between 400 and 1000 years to decompose

~Due to the vast amount of trash poured in, the Schenectady County Landfill is one of the highest points in the city

~The energy we waste making bottled water would be enough energy to power 190,000 homes

~The NRDC conducted a comprehensive four-year scientific study of 1,000 brands of bottled water. The results showed that one third of the bottled waters violated their own industry standards for water quality

Sign the pledge in front of Reamer Today!

So join us today and just SAY NO! to  plastic water bottles! Reusable bottles are sold at many retail stores and are also sold in the Union College Bookstore! While yes a reusable water bottle may be a little more expensive then a $2 water bottle, in about 5 refills you will get the payback that you deserve and start enjoying free water! This will save you hundreds of dollars every year and also save the environment from unnecessary waste! 

Information collected from http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-bottled-water-industry-2011-10?op=1#ixzz2ROau3PYa , City Of Schenectady: Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, and The Story of Stuff: The Story of Bottled Water