San Francisco Mayor To Cut Off Flow Of City Funds For Bottled Water

[RestoreGore]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/22/BAGE8QJVIL1.DTL

SAN FRANCISCO
Mayor to cut off flow of city money for bottled water

Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, June 22, 2007

San Francisco city government will no longer be allowed to use city money to buy bottled water for its employees under an executive order Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign today.

Despite owning a pristine reservoir in the Sierra Nevada that is said to produce some of the country's best-tasting tap water, the city spends nearly $500,000 a year on bottled water.

Newsom is making good on a year-old promise to curb spending on bottled water in the wake of a 2006 Chronicle story that found San Francisco had paid more than $2 million for water, paper cups and dispenser rentals in recent years.

"All of this waste and pollution is generated by a product that by objective standards is often inferior to the quality of San Francisco's pristine tap water," Newsom wrote in a two-page executive order that he is expected to sign today.

snip

The Chronicle's report in 2006 found the departments that spent the most money on bottled water and related expenses during the previous year were Public Health, which spent $139,926; Muni, which spent $65,780; and San Francisco International Airport, which spent $65,670.

The mayor's office in City Hall spent $1,660, and the Public Utilities Commission, which provides drinking water to 2.4 million Bay Area customers, spent $8,622 on bottled water.

Gordon Bennett, a member of the executive committee of the San Francisco Bay chapter of the Sierra Club, said the plastic that bottled water comes in is not recyclable and takes up valuable landfill space.

"The other aspect is that there's nothing wrong with tap water," Bennett said. "In many cases, the quality coming out of the tap is equal to or better than bottled."
~~~~~~~
A very sustainable move and a money saving move that all cities should institute. Imagine if all that money saved was pooled, what we could do in this country to fix substandard water systems that would deliver quality water to customers at a decent price. It's time to stick it to the corporations that are raking in more profits than the pharmaceutical industry by pulling the wool over the eyes of Americans regarding their "bottled water."

[Donnachaidh]

1. Why should the city pay for bottled water for it's employees?

I think any city that does this is moronic. If the tap water isn't up to snuff, then perhaps the Public Health department should be doing it's job to clean it up?

[robinlynne]

2. absolutely. And the whole idea of bottled water is just tons of plastic to our landfills

and profit. no need for it at all.

[AndreaCG]

4. It depends how old the buildings are, too

If they were built in the 30s which a lot of them are the plumbing could have lead. Or be rusting.

I don't think supplying 5 gallon jugs and coolers is unreasonable. The jugs are sent back to be refilled.

[Donnachaidh]

6. if the building is MAINTAINED properly there is no problem with the lines.

We're talking about city-owned buildings here, not tenement apartments.

It's totally unreasonable. Plastic jugs to fill up the dumps, when city water is available? If the employees worry so much, let THEM buy their own water.

[originalpckelly]

8. Aren't most water cooler jugs re-used?

Am I not getting something here?

[Donnachaidh]

10. They may with delivery,

But I see more jugs in dumpsters in my area than I'm happy with.

[RestoreGore]

11. Do we know that for a fact?

I don't.

[AndreaCG]

18. Good luck with THAT happening

We are getting a new courthouse and its opening has been delayed because among oither things the infastructure is already crumbling. There are myriad other problems including wiring that was built for the 1930s, and stair rails which are short enough that it is easy to throw people off them into the rotunda. It's a criminal court. There are fights pretty often. The city will not raise the height of the railings cause it "complies" with city regulations. When the court officers union suggested putting netting under the staircase to catch anyone who was tossed off, it ws rejected as bein "unaesthetic"..

And you think they're really going to maintain the pipes in the old building???

[Solo_in_MD]

19. What makes you think that Gov buildings are maintain properly, just look at schools

Seriously if they want people to drink tap water, they should test on a regular basis and post the results

[RestoreGore]

21. They just aren't supplying it with city funds

I don't recall reading in this article that employees would be stopped from buying it themselves. Why should taxpayers foot the bill for bottled water for employees if many of them can't afford to live themselves? And why aren't the same standards for requiring testing and reporting applied to large corporations? They don't have such standards, they just have ad campaigns.

[RestoreGore]

5. Absolutely

It is nothing but wasteful to the planet and the taxpayers.

[diane in sf]

25. I live in SF and I filter all my drinking and shower water

because I don't want to be drinking or inhaling chloramine. Unlike chlorine it doesn't easily disolve from the water. Like chlorine it is highly toxic.

If they used ozone like the Europeans do on the nice mountain water from the Hetch Hetchy resevoir than I would just drink it straight.

[mikelgb]

3. I use bottled water

my tap water is disgusting unfortunately

and extreemly hard

when I was in DC the water was great

[RestoreGore]

7. Then people need to join together in your community to make them change it

Would that be a possibility?

[originalpckelly]

9. I do to, as long as you recycle your bottles...

they're not going to the dump.

[mikelgb]

13. I do

mostly is is delivered water where they take the bottles anyway, but yeah this household recycles glass, aluminum and accepable plastics

still have lots of trash though

it is hard to coordinate such a drastic change in habits amoung several individuals to reduce our footprint

[ourbluenation]

14. my understanding is that there are more than they can handle. plus the

energy used to make and ship bottled water - in one case all the way from Fiji, is remarkable. I'm all about the tap now and I dont care what it tastes like. If it's wet it will work.

[RestoreGore]

15. Unfortunately, not all do what you do

hence the problem. As it is, the quality of tap water in many communities is better than the bottled water you pay very exhorbitant prices for, and in many instances it was taken from the ground by companies that are also spending money on campaigns to make people believe that their tap water is insufficient in quailty in order for them to make a profit. There are over 1 billion people in this world without potable water or even taps, and here we are in this country spending millions of dollars a year on a product we really don't need with grocery aisles full of every kind of flavored and vitamin water we could imagine while our taps flow. It just doesn't seem moral to me.

[Bobbieo]

16. I have used a Brita filter for years. Don't some communities recycle plastics?

[Lance_Boyle]

20. try a water softener and maybe a carbon filter

spend your bottle money on softener salt and filter refills. Provide good water for bathing and washing, in addition to drinking. It makes sense.

[chaska]

12. The larger point is the amount of oil "contained" in bottled water. Story below:

I used to drive an 18 wheeler.

I would regularly pick up a load of bottled water in Southern California, where there is little water, and haul it to Seattle where there is little else. And who knows where that bottled water even originated. Just think of all that wasted oil, all that polution. Water is heavy too, so it used a LOT of fuel to haul.

Does this make sense to you?

[RestoreGore]

17. That's definitely part of it

Shipping it is also contributing to GHG emissions, and it is an unneccesary product we are spending way too much for.

[Uncle Joe]

22. If you do use bottled water, don't leave it in the car,

heat causes the toxins from the plastic to seep in to the water, possibly causing cancer.

Thanks for the thread RestoreGore

Kicked and recommended.

[Bennyboy]

23. DID you know?

Did you know that every single piece of plastic that has not been incinerated still exists? And will forever.

That recycling while noble really does nothing at all? It takes more energy to recycle than to process new?

That Dansani is Atlanta tap water?

That water bottles placed directly on concrete causes the chemicals to leech toxins into the product?

That heat causes toxins to leech into the product?

That the bottles themselves are trucked all over empty before they are trucked all over full?

That there a place in the Pacific Ocean, North of Hawaii that is TWICE THE SIZE OF TEXAS that is made up of floating plastic? http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-me-ocean2aug02,0,3130914.story

10 years ago we got along fine without them,we can go back to not using them.

Or try these Biota waters. Really spring water with a biodegradable bottle made from Corn. Also recyclable.

[Maraya1969]

24. I've stopped drinking so much bottled water since I heard that the plastic

bottles can leak toxins into the water in the bottle...especially if they are exposed to high temperatures in their travels to your refrigerator.

I use a good water filter.

[RestoreGore]

29. yes, and depending on how long they sit in the hot sun before they get to stores..

It might be toxic already at time of sale.

[NobleCynic]

26. There is something so warped as to be beautiful here

The public utility company providing water to the city spent money on bottled water for its own employees. Wow. Comedians really can't compete with real life can they?

[jasmeel]

27. SF, ahead of the curve again. Nice! n/t

[Dragonbreathp9d]

28. Good! Bottled water is a bad idea all together

privatizing water sources if another extension of the evils of capitalism

[slutticus]

30. The tap water here is pretty damn good...

I should bottle the stuff from my house and sell it :)

[mhatrw]

31. SF tap water is treated with chloramine which can't be removed through filtering.

The PUC knows this perfectly well and that's why they all drink bottled water themselves whenever and wherever possible.