Using tap water shows that the water district has confidence in
its product. If it’s good enough to sell to the residents of Santa
Clara Valley, it ought to be good enough for water district
employees to drink
Kudos to the Santa Clara Valley Water District for banning the sale of bottled water at district facilities. Bottled water has been removed from vending machines at water district headquarters.
The district also took the commonsense step of prohibiting the use of district funds for the purchase of bottled water reaffirming a 2002 policy.
It’s a commonsense step for lots of reasons:
- Tap water is more rigorously tested than bottled water.
-
Tap water is subject to more stringent regulations than bottled water.
-
Bottled water is much more expensive than tap water.
-
Producing bottled water creates carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
-
It takes three times the amount of water in a water bottle to produce that bottled water.
-
Transporting bottled water from manufacturers to distributors and retailers requires vehicles that emit air pollution and increase dependence on foreign oil.
-
The vast majority of plastic water bottles are not recycled.
-
Plastic water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to break down in a landfill.
But perhaps the most commonsense reason of all for the water district to stop buying bottled water is the fact that the district sells tap water.
Using tap water shows that the water district has confidence in its product. If it’s good enough to sell to the residents of Santa Clara Valley, it ought to be good enough for water district employees to drink.
Here’s what District 1 Trustee Rosemary Kamei said in a press release announcing the new policy: “We want to help educate the public that tap water is not only healthy and safe for them, but good for the environment, In addition, people can save money by drinking tap water, which costs a fraction of the price of bottled water. In Santa Clara County, people can buy 120 gallons of tap water for the price of a gallon of bottled water.”
Substitute “the water district” for “the public” and “people” in Kamei’s statement and you’ll understand why this move was long overdue.
The district is charged with providing clean, safe water. Requiring that district funds no longer be spent on competitors’ inferior, pricier and environment-damaging products just makes common sense and business sense.
Congratulations to the water district. This move is a sip in the right direction.
