Trent University Officially Bans the Sale of Bottled Water...

Trent University has hit a milestone shared by only a handful of post-secondary institutions across North America. Earlier this month, the school officially banned the sale of single unit bottled water on campus and will fully come into effect in the fall of 2011.

Over the course of the upcoming academic year, customers are being encouraged to reduce their consumption of individual bottles of water as the number of bottles available from cafeterias, vending machines and other sellers will steadily decrease, ultimately reaching none. Moreover, under the policy, no bottled water will be sold by "any member, club and group, organization or administrative or academic department at the university".

This is a major victory for Trent University and all groups fighting against the sale of bottled water. This is an especially important victory for Trent's Central Student Association and Sustainable Trent, the two student groups that have been fighting for this for several years. Several years ago, the likelihood of achieving such a ban was considered next to nil, considering the stranglehold held on the food services at Trent by Aramark. However, I first noticed a major shift in the tide at Aramark during a meeting one of its Reps had with Sustainable Trent in which he implied that a ban on bottled water might actually prove more financially beneficial to the food provider as the closest alternative to bottled water is the much more lucrative 'vitamin water', which is not covered in the ban.

Importantly, the school is providing an investment in water fountains on campus, which, up until earlier last year, were almost nowhere to be found on campus. In fact, under the food service contract with Aramark, it was able to place vending machines in front of old water fountains, thereby eliminating any competition between bottled water and water fountains.

It should be noted that the school's claim that the school will be "bottled water free by 2011" can not be fully achieved by the policy. Indeed, the sale of bottled water is not the same as providing it for free. As far as I understand it, this policy does nothing to prevent anybody giving away bottled water, which is not uncommon at conferences, sporting events, etc. However, one can hope that the ban emanates to these facets as well.

Congratulations, Trent.

A balanced perspective on Fiji Water

One of my friends, ES, sent me a link to an article on Fiji Water. The article presents a balanced perspective (certainly more balanced than my previous blog post) on Fiji Water discussing the importance it plays for economic development. Some quotes:

"Even though it's shipped from the opposite end of the globe, even though it retails for nearly three times as much as your basic supermarket water, Fiji is now America's leading imported water, beating out Evian."

"Rakiraki has experienced the full range of Fiji's water problems—crumbling pipes, a lack of adequate wells, dysfunctional or flooded water treatment plants, and droughts that are expected to get worse with climate change. Half the country has at times relied on emergency water supplies, with rations as low as four gallons a week per family; dirty water has led to outbreaks of typhoid and parasitic infections."

"When such practices are criticized, Fiji Water's response is simple: "They don't have a ton of options for economic development," Mooney told U.S. News & World Report, "but bottled water is one of them. When someone buys a bottle of Fiji, they're buying prosperity for the country." Without Fiji Water, he said, "Fiji is kind of screwed."

Read more here: http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/fiji-spin-bottle?page=1

Also, check out the website of the Fiji Embassy in the US. At the top of the page, you can see an image of a Fiji Water bottle: http://www.fijiembassydc.com/

Bottled Water from Fiji

I went to a coffee shop today in Hong Kong's Central Business District. While waiting in line, I saw some guy buy two bottles of Fiji Water priced at HK$19 a piece ($2.57 CAN per bottle). Yeah, that's right, I actually walked over to the bottled water section after I purchased my coffee to check out the outrageous prices of these products.

Of all the forms of bottled water, I think Fiji water is the worst in terms of its negative ramifications on the environment. Not only that, but the price is exorbitant (you pay a premium for this stuff, it cost more than Dasani and definitely more than Volvic). Also, it has a high energy intensity.

As Peter Gleick demonstrated in a paper, the energy intensity of bottled water is measured by manufacturing the plastic bottle, treatment, cooling and transportation. In the transportation category, Fiji is probably the worst. Indeed, North American cities like LA have high demand for Fiji water. The transportation energy cost of getting the water from Fiji to LA is 4 megajoules (MJ). To put that in perspective, producing tap water requires about 0.005 MJ for treatment and distribution. Transporting Fiji water from Fiji to Hong Kong has a smaller transportation energy cost, nonetheless, it is still an issue worth discussing.

Don't worry, I am not forgetting about the economic side of this argument. Fiji water is in high demand and thus profitable for those who make it. Instead of going on a huge rant about why bottled water from Fiji is problematic, I'll leave you to read David Zetland's blog post (which is hilarious and bang on) and touches more on the economics of the issue. I just thought I would point to a few facts.

Buy bottled water and you get a free water bottle...

I took a picture of this Volvic ad because I thought it was hilarious. It's posted right outside a grocery store near my place. If you purchase bottled water (four to be precise) you are eligible to receive a “Free” water bottle. That seems a bit odd in that water bottles (which are a perfect way to carry around your water) are also used because they are reusable and better for the environment than bottled water. But, the store will only give you the water bottle if you buy four un-recyclable, over-priced, energy intensive and wasteful bottles of bottled water.

Let’s do some quick math: if twenty customers, on average, everyday over one week were attracted by this bizarre incentive and went ahead with the deal, we would have the following:

20 persons/day x 4 bottled water = 80 bottles of water/day in aggregate or 4 per person/day.

80 bottles/day x 7 days = 560 bottles per week.

The price of one 500 ML bottled water at the store is 15 HK dollars ($2.02 CAN). So you need to spend $60 HK dollars in order to receive the free water bottle that probably costs the same price but, alas, is harder to find.

Not to totally criticize the Volvic deal, but it’s pretty horrendous for the environment. We have blogged about bottled water and its unfortunate realities numerous times. Sadly, drinking water from the tap in Hong Kong is simply not the same as it is in Canada because the water is not treated as adequately. I have been advised not to drink tap water so I have been consuming bottled water here at my place. Indeed, I am somewhat of a hypocrite, but truthfully, I have no other option.

It makes me think how fortunate we are in Canada to have clean, affordable and environmentally-friendly drinking water right at the turn of the tap.

Re: Trent's Green Grad...

My recent post on Trent's efforts to have a "green" graduation and my actual experience several days later highlights the difference between good intentions and real outcomes. Last week, Trent's three days of convocation ceremonies employed three different strategies to reduce the environmental impact of the graduation event. Unfortunately, all three strategies came away looking fairly chincy.

Its second annual "Bottled Water-Free" convocation was relatively successful and was highlighted by the stainless steel water bottles provided to each graduate. The water bottles, however, were of poor quality. The lids would not stay on properly and once just came right off when I picked up the bottle. Moreover, there were a few instances where the bottoms of the bottles blew off when they were dropped on the ground. I appreciate the effort Trent, but I'm not very confident that many of those bottles will be reused frequently in the future. 

The second lackluster effort fell on the shoulders of the student group, Sustainable Trent, of which, in the interest of full disclosure, I am an outgoing member. For several years, a handful of dedicated volunteers have worked to put together the Green Pledge, a voluntary pledge taken by graduates to keep the environment in mind when making major decisions in the future. Unfortunately, the main coordinator of the Green Pledge was unable to do it this year and wasn't picked up until the last minute. As I stood in line minutes away from procession, an ST volunteer handed me a pin and asked if I wanted to take the pledge. I knew what it was, so I took the pin. Another graduate behind me did not know what it was, but took it after a one line description. Unsurprisingly, very few graduates had a green pin on. It was a sad sight after such popularity in the past.

The third effort came in the form of free public transit passes to graduates and their guests. I'll admit that I didn't look too much into this and don't know how popular it was, but when looking into the logistics, it looked a little tedious. In order to ride for free, graduates and guests had to print out tickets from the website. Because many of the guests and graduates were coming in from out of town and staying in hotels, printing a piece of paper wouldn't be all that feasible and (forgive my assessment of human beings) most people wouldn't have thought about that ahead of time. Why not just make the Trent Express free that day for everyone? I would not be surprised, however, if the bus drivers just let everyone on anyways without the pass.

I hate to gripe about Trent's 'green' efforts, but they were hyped so much and yet so half-heartedly followed through on. And some people will likely tell me to not be so critical and just be happy Trent tried. But too bad. If you want to legitimize your 'green' reputation, do it with some effort.

But alas, this should not take away from the main occasion. A graduation is a special thing to celebrate, the ceremony was enjoyable and I offer congratulations to all the other graduates. It's a shame it couldn't have a been a little 'greener'.  

Green Cities: Peterborough looks to ban the sale of bottled water...

It's about to get more difficult to find bottled water in Peterborough.

The Peterborough City Council voted unanimously on Monday evening to begin the transition towards a ban on the sale of bottled water in municipally owned facilities. The ban, however, will not take full and complete effect for a few years as contracts with service providers at some of the larger buildings, such as the city's main arena, still allow them to sell bottled water. 

This is big. Although there has been quite a bit of talk all over Ontario about municipal bans, only a few have actually been carried out. And what is perhaps more impressive is the unanimity with which the decision was passed. Decisions of such magnitude tend to inspire debate and disagreement within councils, especially when sharing a similar context to Peterborough:

Like any Ontario municipality, Peterborough is solely responsible for carrying out its waste management services and does not rely on the province to help out. Since these services are not cheap and municipal governments -- like any government -- are not particularly fond of raising taxes, they can use all the help they can get, which is what a major bottled water company offered Peterborough. Nestle, after outlining the risks of obesity and preaching the health benefits of bottled water over other beverages, offered to contribute to Peterborough's recycling program if it didn't go ahead with the ban.

Turning down such an incentive is hard to do. You would expect at least some members of city council to vote against the ban, but instead there was an overwhelming level of support for the ban from council. Indeed, councillors cited the environmental impact of bottled water, the negative move towards privatization and the need to encourage the use of municipal tap water.

Unfortunately, I'm out of the city and unable to gauge the reaction to the decision, but I'm certainly happy to see the city take such leadership. You can imagine that Nestle isn't too happy, but I'm sure they can see the writing on the wall. 

Hopefully this move will add to the movement to ban bottled water in other Canadian regions and even other areas of Peterborough. There is a growing movement at Trent University to have the sale of bottled water banned on campus. The movement has gathered some opposition, particularly from Aramark -- the food service provider on campus -- and a student group in support of bottled water. Aramark's opposition is unsurprising, but opposition from a student group? At granola-munching Trent?

The group's main argument is that a ban on bottled water eliminates consumer choice. Interesting that it has taken side with Aramark, which has a monopoly on food distribution at Trent. After all, nothing says consumer choice like a monopoly. Oh wait...          

Gleick's new book on bottled water...

Peter Gleick is the President of the Pacific Institute based out of Oakland, California. Gleick is an engineer (PhD, Energy and Resources, UC Berkeley) and is an internationally recognized water expert. His new book "Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water" is all about the politics, economics and science of bottled water. Moreover, the book addresses marketing and advertising of bottled water, bottled water claims, the growing revolt against bottled water etc. Much of it is based on the United States.

In Peter Gleick's blog, he shares an excerpt from the book about contaminants in bottled water and it is pretty frightening. A number of contaminants have been found in bottled water including mold, kerosene, sanitizer and crickets. Crickets? That's right, according to Gleick:

"In 1994, a bottler in Nacogdoches, Texas issued a recall for sparkling water found to be contaminated with crickets. The water was distributed in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia and the recall notice wasn't issued until seven months after being bottled and distributed, making it unlikely that consumers were notified in time to avoid buying the contaminated bottles. Maybe they thought it was a bonus, like that worm in tequila, or the weird things sometimes found in flavored vodkas".

This really boils down to how we test and monitor our water, whether it is bottled or tap. Increasingly, we are seeing more experts and citizens asking questions around the implications of bottled water on our health. To read more, check out his blog.

There's no poop in our water...

Bottled water companies are notorious for the multitude of reasons they use to convince consumers of the desirability of their product. The usual suspects include pictures of pristine freshwater springs -- though lots of bottled water actually comes from municipal sources; lulling descriptions of filtering processes -- "triple distilled through reverse-osmosis, oxygenization, and vapourization and cold-filtered with minerals for taste"; and report after report chastising the health risks of municipal tap water -- even though tap water is regulated to a much higher standard in much of the world.

But today I saw something I had never seen before. A particular bottled water company (whose name escapes me) had a poster up in one of Trent's cafeterias with a bountiful list of the wonderful benefits of its product. At the bottom of the list was the cartoon of a small orange fish with little drops coming out of its backside. Beside the picture read, "No fish swam here".

Wow.

I know the bottled water industry is under attack, but I've never seen anything so desperate to claim that there is no fish poop in the product, let alone that no fish swam in the source water. If there were no fish, where did they even get the water? And is there any life in the water? If not, it might be an indication that the water isn't all that healthy.

Of course, now I'll take an extremely cautious approach to any drink that is not labelled with a "no fish swam here" logo. I don't know about you, but I don't want to drink fish poop...