RESPONSIBLE CITY AGENCY: Office of the C.A.O.
Background:
Salt Lake City municipal water
is safe, clean, and has been rated among the best-tasting municipal waters in
the nation. From the tap, the water is better than required by
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations and the City works hard to
keep it that way. Our watershed resources are protected, providing us with
clean sources and the opportunity to provide very high quality water at the best
possible price.
In 2007, Mayor Ross C. Anderson stated that Salt Lake City
(City) facilities would no longer purchase bottled water, due to the negative
affect it has on the environment. This Executive Order supports Mayor
Anderson's policy, and extends not only to individually - sized servings of
water, but also to water purchased in large quantities for water
coolers.
Social
and Environmental Issues Related to Bottled Water
Americans bought a total of 8.3
million gallons of bottled water in 2006, sold in a variety of containers from
small, single-serving bottles to multi-gallon water cooler bottles.
The increasing popularity of bottled drinking water has significant
environmental and social impacts, from the energy used to produce the plastic
containers and deliver filled bottled to consumers, to the concentrated water
withdrawals near bottling facilities, to the plastic waste from discarded
bottles. By choosing tap water over bottled water, institutions can
significantly reduce negative environmental impacts.
Energy
and Emissions
Pumping, bottling, transporting,
and chilling bottled water is energy inefficient compared to using the existing
network of reservoirs, storage tanks, and pipes that furnish tap water to most
homes and buildings in the United States.
Bottles
themselves are a major environmental concern. Ninety-six percent of the
bottled water sold in the U.S. in 2005 was sold in polyethylene terephthalate
(PET) containers, most of which were packaged in single-serve sizes of one liter
or less. PET is derived from petroleum; producing these bottles
required the energy use equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, and
produced over 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. This is the same
amount of carbon dioxide that would be emitted by over 400,000 passenger
vehicles in one year.
Limited
Recycling
Most
plastic water bottles end up as trash. In 2004, only 14.5 percent of
non-carbonated beverage bottles made from PET were recycled. Of
those recycled, 40 percent were exported, often to China, requiring additional
energy in transport.
Water
Waste
Water resources are becoming even
more precious due to increasing population and issues related to climate
change. Ironically, it takes substantially more than one gallon of water
to produce and distribute one gallon of bottled water. Millions of gallons
of water are used in plastic-making process, and for each gallon that goes into
the bottles, two gallons of water are used in the purification process.
Water
Quality Issues
Bottled water is often marketed
to suggest it is purer than other choices. Often, that is not the
case. According to government and industry estimates, about one-fourth of
bottled water is actually bottled tap water (and by some accounts, as much as 40
percent is derived from tap water) - sometimes with additional treatment,
sometimes not.
In the
U.S., tap water is closely regulated. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act,
the EPA is responsible for tap water standards. Bottled water is regulated
by the Food and Drug Administration, which bases its standards on the EPA's tap
water standards, but requires testing less often and for fewer contaminants.
Cost
In Salt Lake City, 750 gallons of
clean, fresh water is supplied to a home for 88 cents. That is less than
the cost of one average pint of bottled water, making bottled water
approximately 6000 times more expensive than tap water.
Therefore, I enact this Executive
Order:
1. This Executive Order
applies to the Mayor and City Employees in City departments under the direction
of the
Mayor.
2.
Upon signing of this Executive Order, City funds will no longer be used to
purchase bottled water in individual servings for use in City facilities or City
sponsored
events.
3. Effective December 31, 2009, City funds will no longer be used to
purchase bottled water for coolers for use in City facilities or City sponsored
events.
4. Exceptions to this policy will be made
when:
a. There are no reasonable alternatives to access
safe drinking
water;
b. When there are hydration requirements for
employees working outside of City
facilities;
c. When there are legal or other contractual
reasons
present;
d. In case of any emergency requiring bottled
water to be
supplied.
5. Furthermore, the Sustainability Division, with the assistance from the
Department of Public Utilities, will provide education to City employees on the
economic and environmental benefits of drinking water from the City's water
supply.
Effective Date 8 22, 2008
(Signed by Mayor Ralph Becker 8 14, 2008)