Bottled Water
In response to the concerns regarding the negative environmental impacts of bottled water, the Council (via Minute No 70, 3/3/09) has made a number of resolutions as follows:
- That the Council acquire no more bottled water from overseas.
- That for situations where bottled water is most practicable, that only locally sourced supplies be acquired.
- That the Council use existing refrigerators to provide cold water.
- That the Council provide no further powered filtration systems to provide filtered tap water.
- That the Council address concerns with water quality with the provider, Sydney Water.
- That the Council receive a report that explores the possibility of joining the Bottled Water Alliance.
The Council subsequently resolved (via Minute No 192, 26/5/09):
That the Council join the bottled water alliance by registering on the Bottled Water Alliance website, with an appropriate link provided on the Council’s own website.
Click here to view the Council reports related to above resolutions.
The Bottled Water Alliance Website is www.bottledwateralliance.com.au
Bottled Water Facts
More than a billion people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water. In Australia, we have the luxury of quality tap water, yet despite this:
- Australians spend more than half a billion dollars a year on bottled water. Last year, the sale of bottled water increased by 10 per cent.
- Producing and delivering a litre of bottled water can emit hundreds of times more greenhouse gases than a litre of tap water.
- According to British research, drinking one bottle of water has the same environmental impact as driving a car for a kilometre.
- In many cases, a litre of bottled water is more expensive than a litre of petrol.
- Department of Environment and Climate Change estimates that 200ml of oil is used to produce, package, transport and refrigerate each litre bottle of bottled water. As a result, at least 50 million litres of oil is used in the manufacture and distribution of bottled water in Australia every year.
- Australia recycles only 36% of PET plastic drink bottles.
- In South Australia, which has Container Deposit Legislation, the plastic bottle recycling rate is 74%. A 2007 national Newspoll commissioned by Clean Up Australia found that those polled 82% support a CDL scheme of 10c on bottles.
- Australia’s annual use of bottled water generates more than 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions - the same amount that 13,000 cars generate over the course of a year.
Above information is from the Bottled Water Alliance www.bottledwateralliance.com.au.