SHARE THIS SHOW:
RELATED CONVERSATIONS:
RECENTLY ON TOL:
TOL Our Town
- A tumblr site dedicated to the people and places that make up Oregon and Southwest Washington.
TAGS:
Water: From the Bottle or the Tap?
The University of Portland has banned the sale of bottled water on its campus. It's the first on the West Coast to do so. And international water activist Maude Barlow couldn't be happier about it. She served as the senior advisor on water to the president of the United Nations. She founded Blue Planet Project. And she chairs the board of the Washington-based Food and Water Watch. Maude Barlow believes that water is a basic human right and it wouldn't be going too far to say she has an international mission to make free, clean water available to everyone.
Maude Barlow joins us to update us on international water issues, and to bring the story home to Cascade Locks, Wilsonville, and your very own water supply. How do you prefer to get your drinking water: from the bottle or the tap?
Do you believe water should be free to all? Or do you like the freedom to be able to buy a bottle from your convenience store?
GUESTS:
- Maude Barlow: chair of the board of Food and Water Watch and past senior advisor on water to the 63rd president of the United Nations General Assembly
- Steve Kolmes: chair of the environmental science department at University of Portland and organizer of the upcoming water conference at UP: Confluences
Tagged as: activism · cascade locks · water
Photo credit: Brave Heart / Creative Commons
-
You're right -- If you had told me in 1975 that in 30 years, even 20 years, we would all be buying and toting about bottles of water, I would have thought you nuts.
That said, we do (as I shared above) make an initial purchase, then refill with tap water for several weeks before replacing and redeeming. (We used to recycle, but the bottle bill changed about a year ago.)
-
I'm a resident of Portland, Oregon, a nursing student at Portland Community College. It is with no shortage of pride that our water from Mount Hood's Bull Run Watershed is among the finest in the world. Despite some conflict with the EPA about open-air reservoirs and some past scares, I whole heartedly rejoice at this vital community resource.
I get my water from the tap and try to use glass bottles throughout my day. I have considered how the pipes of my residence might affect the water, or if plastic containers, typically polyethylene or PET, might expose me to certain undesired toxins, but I’d have to say that for me the real concern is about the wasteful nature of bottled water. Most bottled water is minimally altered municipal water from a tap itself--unless imported. When you consider the environmental cost of shipping that water, compounded by the manufacturer and disposal of plastic bottles--even if they are recycled--it just seems a shocking display of disregard for our environment. Our watersheds are still relatively healthy and intact in the Pacific Northwest, and many Oregonians and Washingtonians enjoy water from healthy watersheds. I think as responsible and respectful citizens we should appreciate what we have and strive to take care of it. Besides, it’s much cheaper to get safe quality drinking water straight from the tap.
While an outright ban of bottled water might be extreme, I’d like to tax them (along with soda and other bottled single-serve beverages) and ensure that a deposit is in place to ensure their recycling.
I also believe that our tap water is a community resource that shouldn’t be privatized. In Portland, the head of the water bureau is a member of the city council and answerable to voters. I’m alarmed by the trends of privatization I see in other countries—particularly South America. Here in Portland at least, we enjoy great water for pennies a gallon.
--Jonathan Causey
-
"While an outright ban of bottled water might be extreme, I’d like to tax them (along with soda and other bottled single-serve beverages) and ensure that a deposit is in place to ensure their recycling." -- winterwhite, Mon March 22nd 5:35a.m.
Since January 1, 2009, we DO pay a deposit on water bottles, as well as on "enhanced" water (Vitamin Water, Sobe Life Water), in addition to the deposit that was in the original bottle bill signed lo these many years ago by Governor Tom McCall.
(And in Washington State, when we lived there, there WAS a sales tax on bottled water and soda and all other "prepared" foods.)
-
Bottled water should be banned – how did we survive before the bottled water was introduced?? I am sure life will be the same if not safer without bottled water! Who knows how the water is bottled and whether they are following the rules and regulations – now, the officers who go to inspect such places can be “bought”! We can always get clean water through our refrigerator water filters then Why take the risk when we have pure water easily available at our home???
-
My in-laws give bottled water to their dog! They live in Phoenix and say their tap water is too poor to drink. Any suggestions of steps they can take to improve their water? Is their bottled water habit any safer for them?
-
An in home filter / purifier would probably save them a lot of money.
I think if the water quality is so poor someplace that you can't drink out of the tap, it's a pretty clear sign that either too many people (like London, or New York) live there or that people weren't meant to live there in the first place.
-
What is "wrong" with the water in Phoenix? Is it too 'hard' or too 'soft' or microbiologically unsafe? Or what...?
Maybe all they need is a water softener, or as Fred suggested a filter/purifier...
They should have their water tested.
-
It's taxing. It's depressing. Is Obama a citizen? Yep, that is as bad as this bottled water conspiracy. Which makes its supporters look like charlatans. We expect more from progressives, we expect more environmentalists. Do we have to spell it out?---apparently!
You can buy bottled coffee, bottled ice tea, bottled soda---but, no, no bottled water. So the bottled beverage that uses the least resources (yes, water) is the one I can't purchase. But I can buy an orange juice, made from concentrated juice, which takes water to grow the oranges, and then the water is sucked out, the juice is reduced and then reconstituted with more water and then bottled. And, that, is okay? But because water is a simple, base, solution, I can't buy it. Way to go folks! The theory is so pathetically incoherent, that I am not even going to try and sound 'nuanced' about it.
Yes, I understand that you can get water out of a tap. I do. But, you can also make all the other bottled beverages at home, if you want to. You can't ban something because you feel people 'ought' to, or could, get it elsewhere. It is like banning restaurants because you could make the food at home. Or banning the sale of sweaters because our grannies could knit them. We can't pick easy targets, with no evidence to say that it is any worse then anything else, and then decide what we want to ban. Ban supplements that are proven not to work! Imagine all the resources used to water the plants, and used during the manufacturing process to produce them. The space they take up at the co-op, the Whole Foods---the transportation to get them there. We have no moral authority on which to ban bottled water.
Oh, the other angle.... water is a natural resource so it should be free! The whole planet is a natural resource. Everything on it. It would be a different story if cities were selling their fresh water supplies to corporations and stopping it from coming through our taps, but that is a far stretch from people purchasing bottled water.
This bottled water issue is lunacy. It is awful, nasty and discouraging. Because people that you would hope would have a bit more sense, are almost as bad as their enemies. Is there any hope for us all? Anybody wanna buy some echinacea?
-
Yes, thank you.
-
I'll pass on the echinacea (and the gingko biloba, too) since these were just 1990's herbal snake oil.
(Thanks for asking, though.)
-
Is there an issue here? What fussbudget cares about who buys water from which market?
Bottled water is just "normal" water sold at a tremendous premium in convenient cheap plastic bottles, as compared to just toting safe tap water in whatever canteen you choose.
Inform folks about the price difference clearly. Bottled water is many multiples more expensive than safe tap water.
Once that is understood, consumers can make the choice for pre-packaged convenience or fill-up-yer-own. Water bottles can be recycled, so what's the fuss about packaging?
This discussion is really about the shape and material your canteen is made out of. I prefer a trusty old rectangular military 1 liter plastic canteen. It fits well in a pack or briefcase and doesn't roll around the floor of a moving car.
-
It might make more sense to ban soda pop!
Buying containerized beverages, of any sort,
is an unconscious act.
Not that I never buy a beverage in a container,
but I do try to plan ahead every day to meet my
need for liquids. I use a water filter pitcher at home and
sometimes carry a refillable bottle of water with me when I go out.
And, increasingly, I drink plain tap water.
-
The people of Oregon own the water, not Cascade Locks or Wilsonville. They rent it through water rights. They should not sell the water of Oregon to private corporations which resale it for up to 8000% profit.
Nancy
-
Seems like the perfect product to me. You bottle a resource for a tiny fraction of what you can get for it retail, then supply snappy advertizing and the prolls fork over gigantic profits to legally acquire your product.
This is Junior Achievement writ large. The fair return to the State of Oregon is whatever tax or tarrif is placed on the retail sales price, corporate profits, and container fee.
-
If filling up a plastic waterbottle at the tap is good enough for Oregonians, then it's darned well good enough for californians. If their water tastes bad, then they ought to work on improving their water quality and infrastructure. I mean geeze, aren't they like the 3rd largest economy in the world? They ought to be able to fix that.
-
I'm not sure that California is the THIRD largest economy in the world, but I do know that they are in the top ten. (Cue Letterman music.)
-
This infographic really shows the picture.
http://www.onlineeducation.net/bottled_water/
-
Good graphic.
Or:
Good grief! Good graphic!
-
The graphic says nothing useful. The USA spends billions of dollars, on billions of other things, that are entirely unnecessary. Bottled water is just an easy silly target. A target we think is unnecessary, so, we think, people should just make do. Everything is unnecessary in the developed world---all of it!
-
When you are dealing with quesitons about the health of water, diet also becomes a concern.
http://www.glutenfreefoodcritic.com
-
Why aren't we talking about banning soda pop instead of bottle water? It's made with water and is bad for us, while plain water is a healthy alternative. I am also an infrequent bottled water buyer who reuses her bottles by filing them with delicious Bull Run water.
-
Please ask Ms. Barlow what is the best way to fight private corporations from taking our water and selling it for profit?
Nancy
-
Unless you have a permitted water well, the regulated utility you pay for water is "selling" it to you, which is equivalent to buying it from a "public" corporation. Even if you banished any sales of water in pre-packed containers you would still have to charge folks for the cost of installing, maintaining and regulating the utility.
Why in the world is it somehow the "fault" of someone buying a liter of pre-packaged water in Portland that a huge swath of the third world is too disorganized to figure out plumbing and water filtration?
-
I feel lucky to at least be living somewhere (Portland) where I can drink good tasting water from the tap. Growing up in Southern California--where outreach about water conservation seems ridiculously mininal--I can remember water coming out the tap that actually smelled bad.
-
It is ironic---we spent all this time trying to promote drinking eight glasses of water a day, and now people are drinking bottled water, instead of bottled juice and bottled soda, and now we want to ban the bottled water! I suspect many people will just revert to drinking sugary bottled beverages. Then we can all complain more about the obesity epidemic.
-
Having moved here from Texas, I LOVE Portland's tap water, I drink from the tap all the time. SO, before we get too into the thought of banning bottled water, we need to give a BIG nod to how fortunate we are to have drinkable tap water.
The tap water in the community I came from (south of Houston, featuring Dow Chemical) is downright undrinkable. It smells bad. It makes the drinker nauseous if it is not refrigerated to within a degree of freezing. One HAS to buy bottled water or is forced to buy another beverage. (This is how soda addiction begins. I know first hand.)
Back in 1992, the community switched water sources from well water to the Brazos river, and EVERYONE in this mid-sized community came down with intestinal distress. EVERYONE. I had it mild, and mild meant I did not go to the hospital. A community that goes through that loses trust in it's water.
There are filtered water despensers located at most grocery stores in that part of Texas, and one can try to reduce consumption by refilling gallon jugs at these stations. Still, those containers have to be purchased at some point.
If you're thirsty on a 100 degree Coastal Texas day, as well-meaning as you may be, guess what? You're going for a bottle of water if you're drinking water at all.
-
I am against bottled water in plastic containers which are products made from oil. If we believe bottled water is better (I don't) then use glass which has been used through out most of history of man and is a much more friendly item to use. I am amazed that large new reservoirs are not being built in areas of the U.S. where snow and rain fall are heavy during the winter and rainy months, especially now when the warming of the planet is producing more wet weather. Also, we cannot address the world water problem, if it is as great as it is supposed to be, if we do not address population growth, in short, there is to much people pressure on the planet - we need family planning world wide to lessen the pressure on the planet.
-
Hi Raoul - and rjbrownguy who also mentions population later in this thread - you may want to listen back to our program last December on population.
http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/p-word-and-climate-change/
We've also looked at population and land use planning a couple times:
http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/the-big-look/
http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/within-bounds/
Enjoy! Emily
-
I do buy the 5 gallon drinking water and have it delivered to my home. I do not buy the small botted water sold in stores.
At the same time I do not eat beef, chicken or pork. And I think the production of these animals for food wastes valuable water and poisons the water system at the same time.
A more efficient use of water for food is found in legumes and beans for a protein source.
-
I don't use bottled water, but I do have a filter on my tap. I worry about lead from old pipes, pharmaceuticals, chlorine and fluoride in tap water. I do fill stainless steel bottles with my filtered water for long outings. I live in Vancouver.
-
One of my newest customers (I co-founded a water company that provides business-to-business water service) just signed on for the very same reason. That said, I totally agree with Maud's comments about personal-sized bottled water and its woes. That's not to say my business doesn't have its problems, but like the TOL host mentioned when I called in, I think it's possible to harness the dynamic of the commodification of water and use it to do good. At least that's what I'm trying to do with my company NedWater.
-
If that caller has brown water it is probably from very old galvanized pipes that have rusted. He ought to calll the Portland water bureau and talk with them about it.
I don't think rusty water is bad, just unsightly and bad tasting. He can probably get a filter set-up that would take care of that.
-
Just tweeted the water bureau to find out what the do. Here is the reply:
@ThinkOutLoudOPB Customers can call 988-4000 to receive a free h2o test kit - lead, copper, zinc and iron tested - no charge
-
Google "rust bacteria" or "iron bacteria"
Actually there are several causes of color in the water. You could see a flush of sediment in the lines; this is more likely to appear briefly and then go away. There are two other possible causes. Rust in galvanized pipes is one, the other is "rust bacteria." The latter is actually not rust, it is a deposit in the pipe laid down by a bacteria that builds up in wells and the delivery system pipes. ("These microorganisms combine dissolved iron or manganese with oxygen and use it to form rust-colored deposits.")
I have seen galvanized 1/2-inch pipes completely closed off by rust-bacteria deposits. This was in a rural farmhouse served by well water, out of state. Some areas are probably more prone to this infestation than others; in some areas virtually all wells will have this trouble.
-
In response to Mw. Barlow's comment about "plastic water bottles being left in cars" ours are not, so they don't get heated and cooled. We carry them in our backpacks when we are out and about, going about town by bus. (We haven't had a car since the end of September last year.)
(And, yes, we do find it necessary to carry water bottles with us...as I mentioned above, I am an asthmatic, and find that if I have a water bottle to drink from, my throat does not get dry, which seems to be one of the things that triggers my asthma.)
-
Hey Penny, what about using a steel container?
-
I love this conversation. But why don't we talk more about the need to limit our population. I don't mean forced limitation, but voluntary at least. There are so many resource issues that would be lessened if we started reducing population growth, that we should at least talk about it.
Randy Brown
-
Ok, so instead of making bales of waterbottles, why not press them into shingles or structural blocks (like giant legos) and use them to build housing for people that need it?
Just an idea, of course there's probably no prophet in doing socially responsible things like that.
-
I'm drinking bottled water until I can have the water tested in my old house which requires new plumbing. Otherwise I live without bottled water and try to minimize water use.
-
In fact people do cary a container around with them all the time. It's a stomach! It can hold all you need for hours. Water in plastic is obviously a terrible idea- perhaps this is why it has attracted the profit seekers Nestle and Coca Cola.
-
Oregon's state government is spending thousands of dollars every year to purchase bottled water, according to a new report from Corporate Accountability International.
Our state government regulates our tap water. Bottled water is devastating to the environment and creates problems for our tap water.
Governor Kulongoski should issue an executive order ending state spending on bottled water.
Meg Imholt
Portland, OR
Corporate Accountability International
-
Rencently, I went shopping at a 'big box' home improvement store. I was thirsty (I don't buy or use bottled water), and asked a store assistant if there was a water fountain available. He shook his head, and pointed me to a display of bottled water--24 bottles! I only needed a drink, but I ended up buying the entire case. It was 1/10 as cheap as buying one (refrigerated) bottle--at the checkout lane!
-
To Maude Barlow: with regard to preventing a large scale water crisis: in addition to using our water more responsibly, I was wondering if we might consider large water distillation operations that could cost-effectively change ocean water into potable water. I know very little about this sort of thing; are there reasons it would not be worth pursuing?
-Craig Mather
-
I can't help but wonder what the Tea-Partiers would have to say about the campaign to get rid of bottled water:
it's socialist to think that water belongs to "everybody"
it's socialist to prevent private businesses from selling water
the bottled water business employs lots of people; getting rid of the bottled water would add to unemployment
etc etc
-
I find it interesting that your present caller (Don?) suggest that people allow their lawns over the summer. (Personally, I agree.)
Ironically, a year or so ago, there were water restrictions in effect in Sacramento and a homeowner allowed his lawn to go brown, then was given a ticket with a fine over $700 for allowing it to go brown.
And there was a recent case in Colorado where a homeowner was fined for catching rainwater to use on his garden, instead of allowing it to runoff into the Colorado River.
-
I prayed for 20 years that water would be as convenient as "Soda." Please don't take this away! With the water bottle, I have kicked the soda habbit.
Has anyone done a focused study on that?
Also, what is this arguement of water is a commodity? The local water company here in Portland Or, charges based on usage in your home. It's already a commodity. Of a matter of fact, the government, when excepting money from this venture is no longer a "non-bias" source for this subject. Sorry.
I totally understand the plastic issues, but watch out on tin too. Glass or pottery are safe.
They ban water bottles, they should ban soda cans too.
-
And soda bottles!!!
-
Hi Everyone... I work at the University of Portland and would encourage all of you interested in water issues to attend the conference on water that we are hosting this weekend, March 26-28 called "Confluences: Water & Justice."
You can see a full schedule here:
https://pilots.up.edu/web/confluences/1
Maude Barlow will be speaking on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and local political, environenmental, and business leaders will be presenting at sessions throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday.
All the sessions are free to attend, and tickets to Maude Barlow's lecture are $10, but free to all OPB members.
Please come join the conversation. We'd love to have you on campus and discussing and learning about the issues surrounding water.
-
I'm disappointed your guest list didn't include the activists who work on this issue, from the UP, PSU, and UO students who have and are working on banning bottled water from their campus to Food & Water Watch who's fighting the Nestle proposal in Cascade Locks to Corporate accountability who's working to get the governor to stop the state purchase of bottled water.
The guests, while smart and thoughtful, provided little detail or particular stories on water problems around the world. They mostly spoke in generalities. There's good people working on these issues from a local perspective, and their thoughts would've been nice to hear.
Rural Oregon's voice was lost as well today, with little input concerning irrigation, prior appropriation, or salmon - and how water privatization (both around the world and here in Oregon) plays a major role in those issues.
-
Think about this: Bottled water lowers our resistance to local diseases. Having lived in 3rd world countries, I learned that I would often be sick until i grew immunities to local "bugs." Lesson learned - always learn to drink and eat local foods and water or you stay vulnerable to sickness.
-
I agree with Maud's comments about the redistribution of water. Water is going to become a major political topic in the next few years...I think what we need is a balanced discussion on this topic before it gets to the point of say, the healthcare debate. The last thing I'd like to see is a shooting war as a result of water demands across the world.
-
This has been so since the settling of the US West. Study the water appropriation laws in Colorado or Utah for a good example of how water allocation has already been debated and compromised as a limited resource. Also, I am disappointed that today's show did not consider how cities like Denver, Phoenix, LA and Las Vegas have made livable cities in very arid water-scarce areas. The Denver water diversion tunnels and water reclamation system is truly amazing (although Denver water tends to taste bad).
Here in the feral PacNW we have the great luxury of surplus fresh water and that can make the topic of water scarcity seem fresh when academics or outsiders start noticing that water is what it is.
-
Who owns the water that I collect in my gutters? I collect water in barrels for watering my lawn but in some areas water rights make it technically illegal to restrict the flow of water in a watershed. How do water rights laws impinge conservation efforts? Anyone know? Thanks.
-
rain water catchment - excellent. "Ownership," as you ask, depends on state or local law. As an earlier post mentioned, Colorado state might have limits on rainwater collection. I heard a radio program maybe a year or two ago talk about this, in some arid regions (or perhaps on arid western federal rangeland) you may need a permit to collect water. The irony was that cattle ranchers were collecting water into cisterns, then using it later to water their liverstock. They ran afoul of regulations and had to appeal their case, as I recall.It might have been Colorado, or Arizona / Nevada.
This was a fringe case in an arid region. In most states, older rainwater catchments were "grandfathered in" when regulations took effect. Western Oregon, I'd think it's unlikely that it is regulated but local building codes might dictate some constraints (keyword: cistern). So build yours now, in case Oregon tightens the rules.
If you can afford it, it's possible to install a large cistern tank underground to collect rainwater. A sturdy, fiberglass 5,000 gallon tank and fittings can cost on the order of $10,000 or double that. There is also excavation cost, gravel to back-fill around the tank, overflow drainage, possibly pumping to get it out, and access hatch to clean it out. And you really can't use that water for drinking without extensive extra $$ for systems and maintenance. I've heard people suggest using concrete septic vaults as cisterns, but the fittings to make a large tank out of multiple units will be prone to leak.
If a catchment system is independent from other indoor plumbing, it is useful for outdoor spigots, and toilet flushing. Water in a cistern can get dirty and build up a bit of coloration and sediment: dust on the roof is washed down, as is organic (plant) matter and bird poop.
-
Aha, I found an article related to the question, "Who owns the water that I collect in my gutters?" Answer: it depends, where are you?
Look at NY Times, June 29, "It's now legal to catch a raindrop in Colorado."http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/us/29rain.html?_r=1&em
One note, Washington state may have a restriction...
"The two Colorado laws allow perhaps a quarter-million residents with private wells to begin rainwater harvesting, as well as the setting up of a pilot program for larger scale rain-catching.
"Just 75 miles west of here, in Utah, collecting rainwater from the roof is still illegal unless the roof owner also owns water rights on the ground; the same rigid rules, with a few local exceptions, also apply in Washington State. Meanwhile, 20 miles south of here, in New Mexico, rainwater catchment, as the collecting is called, is mandatory for new dwellings in some places like Santa Fe."
-
1. I appreciate OPB’s focus on drinking water safety – Drinking Water and other environmental Public Health safety efforts are the leading reason for our lengthened life expectancy.
2. As the Administrator of Oregon’s Environmental Public Health Office, I agree w/ Ms. Barlow’s advocacy for investment in public water, especially for protecting our source waters. It is both terrifically expensive and impractical to try to engineer or treat our way to clean drinking water.
3. In Oregon, there are about 3600 public water systems: everything from the City of Ptld to the Forest Service campground you visit in the summer. Through Oregon’s SDWA, State/Local PH inspects and regulates those systems for the 92 contaminants required by the EPA. That said, there are many more than 92 possible contaminants, and even for those that are regulated, advancing science has resulted in lowering the permissible level of contamination.
4. More than 90% of Oregon public water systems are very small: they serve fewer than 500 people each. Not surprisingly, many of those systems struggle to consistently and reliably meet SDWA requirements.
5. About 600,000 Oregonians rely on private well water; unlike the public systems, private wells are not regulated or systematically protected.
6. We must continue to invest in Oregon’s water: we are drinking the same water the dinosaurs drank and there is no such thing as someone else’s water is polluted but not mine. B/c of the closed loop hydrologic system, all water is recycled.
Gail Shibley, JD
Environmental Public Health Administrator
State of Oregon, Oregon Health Authority
-
Aaahhh...I really never understood how Americans could have been conned into buying bottles of water and carrying these around wirh them all day. But, then I remembered; these are the same Einsteins that were scammed into using credit cards- borrowing the bank's money to buy colored gee-gaws made in China.
I put their manipulation into buying bottles of water in the same category as being persuaded by banksters to borrow themselves into debt slavery. We are a people that have totally abandoned common sense in nearly every aspect of our lives.
-
If you are interested in supporting or learning about Greywater Reuse in Oregon read below:
Come Celebrate Gray Water Reuse in Oregon on World Water Day – March 22, from 5:30-7:30 pm, SEA Change Gallery.
The event includes:
* a debut of Recode's new video about gray water systems;
* updates about the ongoing Gray Water Advisory Committee and rulemaking;
* a sneak preview of Recode's new EcoSanitation campaign;
* special guest Rep. Ben Cannon - one of the gray water bill's champions;
* food, drinks and fun!
This celebration is a benefit for Recode's statewide organizing tour to connect people throughout the state who are working to create sustainable culture by changing laws and regulations to encourage sustainable building and land use. This tour will culminate in a state wide Recode forum to strategize on future projects and campaigns.
$5-50 sliding scale donations requested.
SEA Change Gallery is located at 625 NW Everett Street, #110, in Portland.
For more information about Recode or this event, please see www.recodeoregon.net
-
After listening to conversations about the problems associated with water, often people are left wondering "what can I do to be part of the solution?" In addition to the amazing water efficiency tips that were shared on the program and are available in a number of very reliable sources online, I would like to tell folks about another way they can contribute to being part of a solution:
I work for the nonprofit Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) based here in Portland. BEF has over a decade of experience working in community-based, long-term watershed restoration and renewable energy development. In the last year, we have worked with a number of groups like the Fresh Water Trust and the Deschutes River Conservancy to create a mechanism that allows people and companies to balance out the water that they have to consume by ensuring that an equivalent amount of water is kept in critically dewatered streams throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The way that western water law is structured right now, landowners are in a "use it or lose it" kind of situation with their water rights. In an effort to maintain ownership of their water rights, land owners are often put in a situation where they have to grow crops in desert like conditions and do other questionable and sometimes wasteful things to maintain legal right of ownership to their water rights. BEF and local water trusts have created a solution that allows landowners to lease their water rights back to the environment and leave the water in the stream.
This solution is called a "BEF Water Restoration Certificate" (WRC). Each WRC represents 1,000 gallons of water that BEF will return to critically dewatered rivers and streams through supply contracts with local Water Trusts. BEF's WRCs are the first and only water restoration solution that is standardized, inventoried and ready for purchase.
The standards and criteria for each BEF WRC project have been certified and endorsed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to ensure that water is returned at a time and place that will produce real environmental benefits.
Just wanted to give you all a heads up that this option exists. Many folks want to do more but don't know where or how to get started. If you'd like to learn more, feel free to visit our website at: befwater.org
thank you.
-
Is this kind of like buying carbon offsets?
-
rj oregon: to answer your question- yes, in principle, it's similar. As with carbon offsets, efficiency is really the first step. Before buying anything, we should try to make sure we're working to be efficient and respectful consumers of resources. However, because we have to consume some water to live, we can take an additional step towards water sustainability and contribute to making sure that our water consumption is balanced out by restoring water to a critically de-watered stream.
Because this whole market for entrepreneurial solutions to environmental issues is fairly new to folks, there are lots of questions. Personally, one of the things that I think is the most interesting and exciting about these water and energy solutions that are being developed (things like BEF Water Restoration Certificates and carbon offsets) is that they're giving more people and organizations an opportunity to participate in being part of the solution in a new way. We can all work to change our own behavior and we can work to lobby our elected folks to do things; now we can also make a choice to directly contribute to the restoration of critically dewatered streams. It's pretty amazing. For $20, you can restore 20,000 gallons of water to a critically de-watered stream. Independent envirionmental groups and water trusts make sure the water is going back in the stream. So, you can be certain that if you chose to participate in this solution, your dollars are making a real difference.
I'm not a scientist but I do work for a nonprofit organization (Bonneville Environmental Foundation) based here in Portland that works to create innovative, entrepreneurial solutions to energy and water issues. Apologies for the long answer. But, if you have more questions, I'd be happy to track down answers for you.
-
So many topics rolled into one here, it's hard to know what to comment on! However, World Water Day is (was) too impt not to acknowledge in some way. Agreed, continuous, easy public access to clean safe drinking water is the absolute priority. We are extremely lucky in the US and OR specifically to have access to tap water that is mostly very good. However, for anyone who doesnt want to use tap water for whatever reason, there should be the option of truly good bottled water. And that's where the discussion really goes awry.
All bottled waters are not "just" water. Many bottled waters are, in our opinion, extremely wasteful because of the energy required to source the water, treat/purify/process it, etc. Add to that the plastic bottle issue--bottling water that is already "wasteful"--and the problem is compounded, rightfully so. And let's not forget the transportation issues. We see part of the answer being in real education about the water in bottled water.
To that end, and at the risk of sounding self-serving, please check out our site: Earth2o. (Go here for our news/views: http://earth2o.com/news-views/ )
For people who want/need the option of bottled water, we think ours is the right way to do it:
- The water comes to us in naturally pure form; we're not pumping anything dry, we don't process it to make it "better."
- Earth2o is sourced from a community water system in Opal Springs (a tap water that is great tap water, no arguments there!), so undergoes govt agency testing and is held to strict public health standards.
- Yes, we bottled it--in plastic bottles--because there isnt any better large-scale way to package and transport it; however we are always looking for better ways to do even this part of our business.
It's a big discussion to be sure, but we wanted to let the world know that there's at least one company here in Oregon trying to change the category "from the inside." Thanks for reading.
-
We are extremely lucky in the US and OR specifically to have access to tap water that is mostly very good. However, for anyone who doesnt want to use tap water for whatever reason, there should be the option of truly good bottled water. And that's where the discussion really goes awry。sodium hexametaphosphate
-
Great blog! Thanks particularly for the quickstart vids, I was so excited after downloading the tools that you cannot imagine how disappointed I was to discover I couldn't get them to work! You came to my rescue and saved the day! Cheers.
painting | plumbing | plastering
-
This is such an informative article and very clearly written. Every single thought and idea is direct to the point. Perfectly laid out. Thank you for taking your time sharing this to you readers.
miami movers
-
This is one of the good articles you can find in the net explaining everything in detail regarding the topic. I thank you for taking your time sharing your thoughts and ideas to a lot of readers out there. foamex printing
-
nice one.
seo web design e-commerce
-
great article.
web hosting web hosting service hosting
-
This comment has been removed by the TOL staff.
-
This comment has been removed by the TOL staff.
-
This comment has been removed by the TOL staff.
-
This comment has been removed by the TOL staff.
-
Water is a basic human right, but BOTTLED water is a different story. When you buy bottled water, it's more accurate to say you're buying a bottle than to say you're buying water.
Why should water be a natural human right, yet food is not? You can't live without either of them.
It's the same concept. Food is a natural right, but the PRODUCTION, DELIVERY, AND HANDLING of food is not a natural right. That's business.
Anti-water-bottle activists are expecting companies like Dasani and Poland Spring to purify and bottle their water for them without having to pay a dime for it. I don't understand. It's a service.
Just my 2 cents.
Brandon
CEO, How To Become A Ticket Broker
-
I don't disagree that "bottled water is not a right", but I believe the only value in bottled water should be the convenience. Both food and water are a natural necessity, so working towards a goal of having basic food and water free to all is a good idea. Of course oftentimes this doesn't come without cost, but it could be so much better than it is at the present time. Every year there is a massive amount of food stocks left to go to waste because a) the richer countries who own it have enough for themselves already, and b) they can't give it away for free because it would devalue the food they would sell. Crap like that needs to stop, and healthy drinking water needs to be available free of charge in as many places as possible.
brother cs6000i sewing machine
-
water is a community resource that shouldn’t be privatized. In Portland, the head of the water bureau is a member of the city council and answerable to voters. I’m alarmed by the trends of privatization I see in other countries—particularly South America
geranamine
-
More than 90% of Oregon public water systems are very small: they serve fewer than 500 people each.
clarinet maintenance
-
Using bottles is a waste of resources. We should think how our daily life affects the environment.
T-mobile sim only
-
Trends of bottled water consumption has dramatically increased.Everyone can not afford to get water bottles. Campaigns like such are highly appreciable.
best weight loss pills
-
I've heard that bottled water is more healthy and safe, especially when travelling abroad. That's why I, personally, prefer it.
Thanks,
Andrea expert of adsl senza linea telefonica and armadi ante scorrevoli. -
Water is basic human right and second in priority, the first being air. We cannot survive even a few minutes without air and impure or poisoned air can kill us more quickly than anything else. The second most important thing is water. No doubt it should be free. God had given us pure and plenty of it. We have polluted it so it should be pure. But this will not bring the solution. A solution means it should be a complete unit in itself. If you give only pure drinking water, those who cannot afford minimum quality food cannot remain healthy with just pure drinking water. So the solution is those who cannot afford, must get all the basic and primary needs either for free or the capacity to by it. The waste should be controlled.
Fragrances
-
This is an awesome and unique green initiative! It would be interesting to see the statistics on bottled water consumption over the past 8 years. I guarantee the amount of plastic that is used would blow most of us away. We would be shocked to see the numbers.
___________________________________________________________
Jazzy | International Travel Insurance
-
Trends of bottled water consumption has dramatically increased.Every one can not afford the bottle water.Every human has a basic right for the access of clean drinking water.The initiatives taken are Maude Barlow are appreciative.
-
Comments are now closed.
Bottled water really scares me. Even more scary is how our citezens have been trained to think this is a normal practice and buy it by the case drinking it exclusively. It wasn't that long ago when the thought of buying water was a ridiculous idea relegated to rich hollywood types drinking Evian. I'm afraid that the more comftorable poeple are buying water the more value it gains and clean free water will soon be a thing of the past. Why install drinking fountains when you can sell it?