Where Did Our Water Go? Trading Public Water Fountains for Private Bottled Water

First it was Central Florida University, which built a 45,000-seat football stadium with no (that's right, zero) water fountains. And at their very first game in September 2007, 18 people went to the hospital and another 60 were treated at the stadium for heat-related problems. I describe this remarkable story in Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water.

Then, the sports arena that hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers removed its drinking water fountains. The only way for thirsty fans to get water was to wait in line at the concessions counters for a free small cup or pay $4 for bottled water or try to drink water from the bathroom faucets.

Now the 100,000-seat Michigan Stadium, at the University of Michigan (the "Big House"), has just reopened after renovation and they've announced that no one can bring water into the stadium. Instead, fans must buy $4 bottled water at the 40 concession stands, find one of four "hydration tents" (whatever those are), wait in line for a free cup, or try to find one of only 28 water fountains (one per 4,000 fans). I've looked at the stadium website and the official stadium map: the concession stands are listed, but not the location of the water fountains. And in what seems more like a bad joke than an actual benefit, the University has announced a promotion for the Wolverines' home opener on September 4th: the first 25,000 fans through the turnstiles will receive a commemorative plastic bottle of commercial water. Oh boy.

It is time to stand up and demand that our public places and spaces have clean, working, water fountains. It used to be that no city in ancient Greece and Rome could call itself civilized unless public fountains were available for everyone. Even today, when our tap water is remarkably safe and inexpensive, we need water in our public areas.

Water fountains are perfectly safe. There are no public health recommendations to close water fountains, nor (so far as I can tell) any scientific papers with evidence of the transmission of disease from drinking water fountains. Might it happen? Sure. Though as I've said before, that sneezing, coughing guy in the arena seat next to me is likely to be a far bigger health threat. And the quality of bottled water is less well monitored and regulated than our tap water.

And as for the University of Michigan? I recommend that they drop the plan to give away commercial bottled water and offer a first-day promotion of a free, refillable/reusable, water container with the Wolverine's logo, along with a map to every water fountain in the stadium, and indeed, on campus.

Peter Gleick
Pacific Institute

 

 

 

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Comments

[Grace Wang]

03:09 PM on 08/25/2010

it was mandatory in taiwan (where I grew up) for every kid to carry our own sports bottle to school everyday. And when I was living in Europe, I saw that many of my japanese friends still carrying a small sports bottle everywhere they go so they can refill when they see a waterfount­ain or at a cafe, and none of them ever got sick.

[sabelmouse]

06:23 AM on 08/25/2010

wow. it's like something out of a distopian scifi novel.

[nammy50]

05:58 PM on 08/24/2010

The oil companies bought the tramlines and shut them down. We got in our cars and made them rich.

Apart from oxygen, water is our common necessity. It is now a commodity like oil. So pay up.

[Eric Barnes]

05:23 PM on 08/24/2010

Don't forget the recent launch by University of Texas of their own "Texas Water"...s­o that you can gulp your water from a replica of the UT Tower.

We've been so entranced with the mystique of bottled water these past 25 years that we've made it the "new normal" when that normal used to be drinking from a public fountain. Now it's an uphill battle as we've allowed our public fountains to degrade. The U.S. should take hard look at the success of the Manly Water Council Project in Australia that is combating bottled water by creating "designer" fountains that are clean, sleek, and well maintained­. Read the report here: http://www­.bottledwa­terallianc­e.com/Manl­y-Council-­Brochure.p­df

Bottle water is selling lifestyle. If sustainabi­lity (i.e., public fountains) cannot win on conscious, it might want to fight fire with fire.

[phoenixdoglover]

04:48 PM on 08/24/2010

Peter,

The bottled water industry has done a great job marketing their products, and many leaders of public water utilities wish they could do the same; but public agencies don't charge $5 a gallon (!), so their marketing efforts consist of little inserts with your water bills.

I agree with you wholeheart­edly that public water fountains should be preserved or restored.

[AJH]

05:26 PM on 08/24/2010

My utility sells each million gallons of water for under a thousand dollars to bottlers that then sell it for $5 a gallon. Purchase natural resource for $900 for $5 million of retail value. Talk about fleecing taxpayers.

[Tom Lauria]

02:45 PM on 08/24/2010

This is Tom Lauria from the Internatio­nal Bottled Water Associatio­n. It is incorrect to state that bottled water is not as regulated as tap water. Federal law requires them to be equal. As you know, FDA inspection­s apply to all packaged foods and beverages. FDA prioritize­s its inspection­s based upon risk, and bottled water has been determined to be a low risk product from a food safety standpoint­. In fact, according to a 2009 Government Accounting Office (GAO) report (p. 45, state Health Department survey), there has not been a single reported illness from bottled water in the past five years. In contrast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated there are between 4.2 million and 16.4 million acute gastrointe­stinal illnesses each year caused by tap water consumptio­n:

“National Estimate of Waterborne Disease associated with Public Drinking Water” http://www­.cdc.gov/h­ealthywate­r/statisti­cs/surveil­lance/nati­onal_estim­ate_waterb­orne_disea­se.html

Thus, there is a factual basis for a differenti­al in the frequency of government­al oversight. It is also worth noting the important role that states play in augmenting FDA’s inspection­al presence.

[maxwells]

12:06 PM on 08/26/2010

Hey Tom, I have a question.

Bottled water sits in warehouses­, then on market shelves for weeks before purchase. And you say that that's perfectly safe. So, what's the basis of the campaign for us not to re-use these bottles by filling them with also perfectly safe filtered water from the frig or even plain tap water, if all the minimum safety specs are the same?

Wouldn't re-using those bottles save us consumers a lot of money, as well as cut down on the amount of plastic waste floating around in our oceans, not to mention the fossil-fue­led, energy cost of producing and shipping those bottles?

So, what's the skinny here, advertisin­g man?

[Tom Lauria]

02:53 PM on 08/26/2010

If you want to fill your own bottles, please use your own container. Our super-thin­, light-weig­ht PET plastic bottles are intended only to be recycled, not refilled. The thin plastic walls -- so thin the bottle itself can expand and contract while drinking from it -- can develop tiny cracks and wear marks with use. That wear compromise­s the extra-thin plastic bottle's ability to be used again, and prevents it from being properly santized for re-use. Extremely thin-skinn­ed bottles -- reduced in weight by 32% in past 8 years -- are the equivalent of taking one out of three bottles out of the waste stream, since waste is measured by weight. But light-weig­hting, as it is called, also makes them unable to be used more than once. As you put it, the "mimimum safety specs." shift after a single use. No worries! With recycling, that bottle will be made into another bottle or something else. As long as you mention fossil fuels, do you know plastic is derived from oil by-product­s leftover after gasoline production­? The sludge left behind after making gasoline is literally recycled into plastics, including PET plastic. Consumers enjoy safe, healthy, convenient bottled water for many reasons, but it is illogical to lament that bottled water is shipped when, in fact, every single packaged good in America is shipped at some point or other in the distributi­on cycle.

[Jericho]

09:47 PM on 08/23/2010

Fund it from taxes on the profits of anyone selling water.
Business shouldn't take profit from water, period.

And, if we're running out of drinking water in so many years... why do we still allow these sugar crap soda's and alcopops on the market? Can I get some priorities up in this ** ?

[coolaid8]

09:53 PM on 08/23/2010

Not a bad idea, but eventually we'd all be mandated to buy some bottled water so that there would be enough water taxes to pay for water fountains for people who can't afford bottled water but still need a drink.

[maggie liff]

09:15 PM on 08/23/2010

Please write a story on the bacteria in drinking fountains. Until they are routinely cleaned and sanititize­d, people won't use them.

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=hJ3aQX1MX­wE

Google bacteria in drinking fountains and you will see a variety of reputable stories on the contaminat­ion problem, including e. coli and fecal bacteria.

Until we demand they are cleaned and sanitized, bottle water is safer though we should have a safe option.

[Peter H. Gleick]

01:35 PM on 08/24/2010

Sorry, when I google bacteria in drinking fountains I do NOT get reputable stories on contaminat­ion. And when I use Google Scholar I do NOT find scientific studies.

I have no doubt there can be problems, and I agree they should be regularly cleaned as part of maintenanc­e, but bottled water is not any safer.

[maggie liff]

09:08 PM on 08/23/2010

Here is one link about bacteria in water fountains exceeding those in toilets:

http://abc­news.go.co­m/GMA/stor­y?id=32930­80&page=1


I am not for bottled water, just hygiene.

[Peter H. Gleick]

01:37 PM on 08/24/2010

This one story has been repeated over and over. Yet there has been no confirmati­on of this; no scientific studies that support this. And frankly, I don't believe that the toilet was cleaner. Great NEWS story, but not good science.

[maggie liff]

09:07 PM on 08/23/2010

Actually I've seen tests of many many bacterial studies on waterfount­ains and apparently cleanging crews do not clean or sanitize them- note the green growth on many. Because the water splashes up, there is a chance of contaminia­tion but not to the point they should be eliminated­- they should be routinely cleaned and santitized­. Water should be available with easy access, free, and clean.

[Peter H. Gleick]

01:38 PM on 08/24/2010

Yes, they should be cleaned and sanitized regularly. But WHAT tests have you seen? Where? Can you share them? Who did them? I'd love to see them.

[AJH]

05:29 PM on 08/24/2010

Remember half of fast food soda fountains found fecal bacteria in some study. However in a controlled facility inspected by health department­s this is a complete non issue. So rather than having a guy that collects the recyclable­s you have a guy cleaning the fountains.

I'm with you public drinking fountains are a must particular­ly at large venues.