Think Outside the Bottle

Think Outside the Bottle.  I love that tag line, almost as good as "Think outside the Bun."
--Phillip

Bottled water's popularity tapped out?

By Sacha Pfeiffer Globe Staff / April 4, 2008

In a collective effort to reduce the negative impact of bottled water, Cambridge, Somerville, and a handful of local restaurants have joined Boston in pledging to use tap water instead. Concerned by the cost, waste, and safety of bottled water, they hope others will follow their lead.

"Bottled water is bad for taxpayers, it's bad for our environment, and it's bad for our public water systems," said Annie Sanders of Corporate Accountability International, a Boston nonprofit group running a national campaign, "Think Outside the Bottle," aimed at persuading companies and municipalities to cancel their bottled water contracts.

So far in Massachusetts, three high-profile cities have joined the cause. Cambridge did not renew its Poland Springs bottled water contract in January and now uses filtered tap water. Boston, which has said it will curtail and possibly eliminate its use of bottled water, is auditing its bottled water usage in municipal facilities. Somerville has resolved to cancel its bottled water contracts, although it first must install the necessary plumbing to make water fountains available in city buildings.

They were joined by a half-dozen Boston-area restaurants: Small Plates in Cambridge; Bella Luna/Milky Way Lounge in Jamaica Plain; and Herrell's Ice Cream, T.J. Scallywaggle's, Grasshopper, and the Other Side Cafe, all in Allston.

But while some restaurants call the move to eliminate bottled water an environmental no-brainer, others say the decision is complicated by an important market reality: Many customers regard tap water with distaste.

"Being in the hospitality industry, it's important for us and the success of our business to provide our guests with what they're asking for, and many people drink exclusively bottled or sparkling water," said Leo Fonseca, general manager of Stephanie's on Newbury, which offers still and sparkling water - in glass bottles, not plastic - in addition to tap.

"When people are spending money on fine food and fine wine, their perception is that their water is not going to be as good if they don't drink it out of the bottle."

In 2005, 52 billion plastic bottles and jugs ended up in landfills or became roadside litter, according to the Container Recycling Institute, and the production of bottled water generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2006, according to the Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank. A study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental action group, found that bottled water is no safer than tap water on average, and is sometimes less safe, containing elevated levels of arsenic, bacteria, and other contaminants.

Alarmed by these factors, many environmental and consumer groups are trying to coax the public to embrace tap water instead.

The challenge is significant: Seventy-four percent of Americans drink bottled water, and one in five drinks only bottled water, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Still, some municipal officials say the effort is worthwhile.

In Somerville, where bottled water is delivered to all municipal buildings, including schools, the city's three-year bottled water contract totals about $24,000, a "relatively inexpensive" amount, said Peter Mills, Somerville's director of environmental programs. Yet, he said, "a lot of the costs of bottled water are hidden from the end user."

"The city's bottled water contract, if you look at it just in terms of dollars and cents, looks fairly affordable," Mills said. "But that doesn't take into account all of the supply-chain environmental impacts, from transportation to plastics to disposal of those plastics."

The International Bottled Water Association in Alexandria, Va., disputes the contention that bottled is less safe than tap, saying that both are thoroughly regulated. It also notes that bottled water companies have taken steps to reduce the environmental impact of their products, such as by using lighter-weight plastics in their containers.

"The bottom line for us is bottled water is a very safe, healthy, convenient product," said association spokesman Joe Doss, "and these groups that are critical of bottled water might cause consumers to turn to less-healthy alternatives," such as beverages loaded with sugar and calories.

A dozen other cities nationwide have signed on to the "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign: Seattle; Salt Lake City; Minneapolis; Brainerd, Minn.; North Olmsted, Ohio; and the California communities of San Francisco, Emeryville, San Leandro, Berkeley, Palo Alto, Hayward, and Santa Barbara.

Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com.