Monday, April 16, 2012

Bottled Water Ban Not That Simple



The following is a portion of a letter from Mr. Paul Manly appearing in the local daily, it is regards the proposal to ban the sale of bottled water in municipal facilities
 Be it Resolved:
A. Single-use bottled water will no longer be sold in any city-owned or administered concessions, vending machines or public facilities where access to municipal tap water exists;
B. Single-use bottled water will no longer be purchased and provided at meetings where easy access to municipal water exists;
C. The availability of water jugs with municipal water will be increased as required;
D. Where municipal water is not readily available, a plan be put in motion to increase access to municipal water subject to safety requirements, budget and other considerations; and
E. City staff develop a public awareness campaign to support the rationale for these important changes.
We simply want the city to promote the excellent tap water we have available and stop enabling the sale of bottled water. Single-use bottle water will still be available in stores, available in emergencies and for use by emergency personnel etc. There's no need to panic.
There are many reasons to stop the use of bottled water (usually just expensive tap water anyway) and promote the use of municipal tap water, firstly the city and taxpayers pay to recycle all of that plastic.
We have a plastic mass the size of a small continent floating in the Pacific Ocean. There's no need to have single-use bottled water for sale in city facilities where tap water exists.
It's one small step.

Questions Arising From The Above Resolution:

While there is no disagreement in principle, that carrying your own, filled from home water bottle is a good idea, and makes sound financial sense as well. For the water to be 'accessible' does that mean it simply has to be on tap, or does it have to be a fountain, or must the city provide drinking cups?

The availability of water jugs, is just confusing. Is this in the event a tap is not available? Are these jugs sanitized and kept chilled???

Is the issue drinking tap water, or reducing the cost of recycling the plastic?

As for the matter of promoting the 'excellent tap water we have available', that would seem to contradict the opinion of VIHA and our city council and city staff who are convinced our water is not safe and therefore we need spend $72 million to filter it.


allvoices

No comments:

Post a Comment

Your comment will appear after moderation before publishing,

Thank you for your comments.Any comment that could be considered slanderous or includes unacceptable language will be removed.

Thank you for participating and making your opinions known.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.