Tap water is better than bottled, New Yorkers are reminded

Platte Kill Clove waterfall, part of the Catskill watershed.

Photo: T. DenHerder-Thomas

July 23, 2007

The most populous city in the U.S. wants people to drink its tap water and kick the bottled water habit, echoing an initiative introduced last year by a Church World Service education and advocacy partner.

With an ad campaign urging people to “Get Your Fill,” New York says its tap water is a “delicious,” “fat-free” drink available at the twirl of one's fingers or the flick of the wrist.

“We have some of the best tap water in the world,” said commissioner of New York's Department of Environmental Protection Emily Lloyd. The city is one of five in the nation with a water supply so safe that filtration is not required by the federal government. Its eight million-plus customers get 90 percent of their water from the Catskill Mountains watershed.

At “Sharing the Waters of Life”, a conference held in upstate New York two years ago, members of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation (PRC) learned about local watersheds and the impact around the world of water use in the U.S. PRC is a national, grassroots organization that supports people of faith working towards environmental wholeness with social justice.

PRC's campaign against bottled water took shape at its Lake George conference, which was co-sponsored by Church World Service. CWS is campaigning for the right to water for all. Worldwide, 1.2 billion people do not have access to safe water while 2.5 billion are stuck with inadequate sanitation. Some 2 million children die each year from diseases spread by dirty water and the lack of decent sanitation.

Among its projects and advocacy initiatives, CWS supports community-based ownership and management of water resources in Africa, rainwater harvesting in Palestinian villages and improved sanitation and hygiene education in Vietnamese schools.

While seeking to increase the capacity of local partners to provide clean, safe water for both drinking and domestic use, a vital part of the CWS Water for All campaign is advocacy to public officials on behalf of water as a human right.

Both campaigns—New York City's and PRC's—stress the need to cut down on the environmental problems arising from the use of bottled water. Four out of five bottles end up in landfills, and the production process contributes to global warming. The bottled water industry uses around 50 million gallons of oil to produce plastic bottles nationwide, according to Lloyd, with more oil burned to ship the water.

NYC's Michael Bloomberg is among several mayors in the U.S. developing urban strategies to deal with climate change in the face of to sluggish federal response.

Tap water is increasingly taking the place of bottled water in restaurants in California and New York.

The PRC initiative also highlights the need to take responsibility for local watersheds and ensure good tap water in the face of the tide of privatization of water resources worldwide.

Predictably, NYC's “Get Your Fill” campaign has ruffled feathers in the bottled water industry. The city is also being faulting for spending money on the ad campaign shortly after raising its water rates by 11.5 percent.

Tap water will be a tough sell for residents of aging, badly-maintained buildings in the city who distrust the quality of water in their pipes. Recent immigrants may also be unaware that the quality of tap water is tightly controlled.

City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said New Yorkers have paid for a great water system and it only made sense for them to use it. “And if promoting water consumption results in a reduction in obesity and diabetes, it's actually going to save the city a lot of money.”