Thirsty?
Thirsty? Try the Tap

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Pop quiz. You are running out the door but want to grab a drink. You know that drinking water is good for you, so you reach in the fridge for some agua. Do you grab (a) one of your store-bought bottles of drinking water that can cost over $1 or (b) your reusable sports bottle filled with drinking water from your tap that costs a fraction of a penny?

We at the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) want the 1.8 million people we serve every day (and everyone else) to know why water straight from the tap is good for you, good for your pocketbook and good for the environment.

"But the quality is different," you say. "Bottled water is tastier and healthier." Not so. Water from the tap repeatedly wins taste tests across the country. And tap water includes fluoride, an essential additive to help children develop strong teeth.

According to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a growing number of young children are getting more cavities. A leading suspect is bottled water. Why? Most bottled brands do not contain fluoride.

"But bottled water is convenient," you say. "I can just grab one and go." Let me ask you another question. What's more convenient? Turning on the tap, filling a sports bottle and putting it in the refrigerator, or getting in the car, driving to your store, loading water into your cart, standing in the supermarket checkout line, putting the water in your car, driving it home and loading it into your fridge?

There isn't any question that using tap water is also better for your pocketbook. It simply costs less. A lot less. One dollar of WSSC water will fill more than 2,000 20-ounce plastic bottles, just like the one you buy at the store or get from a machine for $1.25. It's easy to see the better value.

"But is our tap water safe?" you ask. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States has one of the safest water systems in the world. The WSSC tests the drinking water hundreds of thousands of times a year. In our 89 years of providing tap water to Montgomery and Prince George's counties, our water quality has always met or surpassed EPA standards.

Finally, there is the environmental impact of drinking from a bottle instead of from the tap. Every plastic bottle of water requires the use of oil for making the bottle and transporting it to stores. Every day, an estimated 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown away. Most are not recycled. Millions end up in our local landfills.

In June the U.S. Conference of Mayors recognized the problems created by the rampant use of bottled water. It passed a resolution promoting the use of tap water and called for greater scrutiny of the impact of discarded bottles on landfills.

The WSSC is taking action as well. For years we have used small bottles of water with our name on them as a promotional tool. They have been a popular giveaway at community events, and we get many more requests than we can accommodate. But we will end that practice. We will still gladly come to community events and bring educational materials. But when our current supply of bottled water runs out, we will purchase no more.

So those are the facts. Tap water is safe. Tap water is healthy. Tap water is less expensive than bottled water, and it is better for the environment. Fill up that reusable sports bottle today.

-- Andrew D. Brunhart

Laurel

The writer is general manager of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.