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 In an astoundingly short period of time, bottled water has gone from unknown to ubiquitous. Rare is the public event or gathering that doesn’t feature the convenience of the clear refreshment, served in its very own drinking container.
But with municipalities across Canada spending millions of dollars to provide clean, safe tap water to their residents, some councillors are beginning to wonder about the optics of drinking bottled water at their own meetings.
This spring, Charlottetown’s city council opted to eliminate the bottles full of water from the Edmonton area which they had been purchasing for their meetings.
Councillor Rob Lantz says the council wanted to set an example for citizens. “We already provide clean, safe and tasty water for the residents of Charlottetown,” he noted. “I think we’re endorsing our own product.”
Add in the obvious environmental issues of transporting water across the country and creating plastic waste, as well as the cost factor, and Lantz says the decision was an easy one. “It was a no-brainer for me.”
The city now filters and cools municipal water in a large dispenser, which councillors can use to fill their own containers. And while it may not be quite as easy as grabbing a couple of bottles to take to his seat, Lantz says the new system is well worth it. “It’s just barely inconvenient,” he notes.
Although he says he’s received little in the way of public feedback around council’s decision, Lantz was surprised at the interest he heard from other municipal politicians when he went to Calgary for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference in the spring.
While the most highly-publicized municipal ban on water bottles has taken place in San Francisco, where the city no longer allows its money to be spent to buy the product, a number of Canadian municipalities are also considering a move away from buying bottled water.
Council meetings in Toronto and Burnaby, British Columbia now feature jugs of tap water rather than bottles.
In Ottawa, councillors have also been considering the change. Councillor Peter Hume describes it as “hypocritical to be promoting our water and drinking bottled water at Council and Committee meetings.”
And south of the border, municipal tap water also appears to be regaining some of its lost popularity, with chic restaurants in a number of large cities eliminating bottled water from their menus.
Proponents of the move away from the purchase of bottled water note that not only is tap water cheaper, it may also be of better quality. While municipalities follow strict testing guidelines, bottled water companies don’t have the same requirements.
Some studies have suggested the plastic bottles can deteriorate over time, contaminating the water, while even dentists have weighed in on the debate, noting the importance of the fluoridation of municipal water in preventing tooth decay.
Our love affair with bottled water has burned hot and heavy in recent years, but it may be that the cool, clear taste of our Canadian tap water could be enough to douse the flames.
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