Mayor to End Purchase of Bottled Water at City Hall

Seattle’s outstanding tap water beats the bottle on cost, quality and climate

SEATTLE — Mayor Greg Nickels announced recently that he has signed an executive order ending the purchase of bottled water for city buildings and events, citing Seattle’s high-quality municipal water supply and the significant environmental costs of throw-away plastic bottles.

Seattle enjoys some of the world’s best public water, born in the pristine watersheds of the Cascade Mountains. It meets or beats the quality of expensive bottled water and is available at every tap served by Seattle Public Utilities. The mayor’s order – which applies only to city departments – is the first step in an effort to promote Seattle’s water and get people to consider kicking the bottle habit.

“This is a matter of leading by example,” Nickels said. “The people of Seattle own one of the best water supplies in the country, every bit as good as bottled water and available at a fraction of the price. When you add up the tremendous environmental costs of disposable plastic bottles clogging our landfills, the better choice is crystal clear.”

Last year, the city spent about $58,000 for bottled water at city facilities and events. The mayor’s order would phase out city purchases of bottled water by the end of the year, while encouraging employees to switch to municipal water. It would not ban the private purchase of bottled water by city employees.

Bottled water, which costs about $8 a gallon, is about 2,400 times as expensive as tap water, which runs about one-third of one cent. In 2006 Americans bought a total of 31.2 billion liters of bottled water, requiring nearly 900,000 tons of plastic produced from fossil fuels and more than 17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation. That adds up to more than 2.5 million tons of greenhouse gases.

Other environmental problems with bottled water include the fact that, nationally, only one water bottle in 10 is recycled, and that it takes three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water.

Regular testing has consistently shown that Seattle’s water boasts some of the lowest levels of contaminants of any major city in North America — easily besting Environmental Protection Agency standards.

Seattle’s water mostly comes from rain and snowpack in the Cedar River and Tolt River watersheds, in the Cascade Mountains. These pristine areas are access-controlled; they have no industry and no residences, resulting in a source of exceptionally clean water.

Exceptions to the city’s new ban on bottled water may be made in cases when there are no reasonable alternatives to access safe drinking water and when there are hydration requirements for employees working outside of city facilities.

Seattle Public Utilities, a department of city government, provides a reliable supply of high-quality water to more than 1.3 million customers in the Seattle metropolitan area. To learn more about Seattle’s drinking water system visit the Seattle Public Utilities Water System Web site.

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