Dissent over the eco-friendliness of bottled water has reached the boiling point, if you will, in recent months.
Americans sure love the stuff. We swigged 8.25 billion gallons in 2006 - an average of 28 gallons per person.
But some decry the energy consumed in transporting it long distances — like from Fiji.
And the petroleum that goes into the plastic.
And the litter that results when too many of us just toss the bottles in the trash.
And so on.
Bottlers point to the convenience of water in a bottle. They say its leads to healthier drink choices and a healthier population.
And the plastic in the bottles has been drastically used.
And so on.
Lately, America’s mayors have begun to look at the issue. After all, hefty funding goes into public water systems. How does it look if cities diss the very stuff coming from their taps by buying bottled? Not to mention the landfill costs when their citizenry litters or tosses.
Now, the august U.S. Conference of Mayors has spoken.
Today in Miami, at the annual national meeting, they passed a resolution.
Did they endorse bottled water and take their lumps with enviros?
Did they decry bottled water and take their lumps with the bottlers?
I guess this is what politics is all about. It was a resolution “supporting municipal water systems.”
And it concludes: The US Conference of Mayors encourages cities to phase out, where feasible, government use of bottled water and promote the importance of municipal water.
Encourages? Where feasible? Phase out? Promote?
Which stikes me as kind of watered down, if you will, from either side of the debate.
GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.
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