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February 8, 2008
Bottled Water Being Taxed, Banned In Some Cities
PITTSBURGH -- Metropolitan areas across the country are banning or putting heavier taxes on bottled water because officials said the plastic bottles are bad for the environment.
Chicago added an extra tax to bottled water, and San Francisco banned it for city workers.
Call 4 Action reporter Aaron Saykin said that in some places, bottled water is quickly becoming an unwelcome guest.
While it's still among the fastest-selling beverages, the big cities are banning and taxing it so that many eco-friendly residents instead can turn exclusively to the tap.
"The environmental impact of using all of this plastic, using all of these bottles. Plastics are made from oil, which we know is a resource that we don't have a lot of," graduate student Stacia Thompson said.
Plus, officials said that plastics require energy to make, ship and recycle, and many bottled water drinkers do not recycle.
The Container Recycling Institute said that more than 80 percent of the plastic bottles ends up as litter or in landfills.
But some experts said they feel bottled water occasionally gets a bad rap.
"You should not feel guilty about drinking bottled water. It's a rational thing to do. Public water is safe, but bottled water can be a higher quality of what we can get out of our taps," Carnegie Mellon University water expert David Dzombak said.
What bottled water drinkers should feel guilty about, Dzombak said, is not recycling the bottles. Dzombak said he would like to see the state institute a deposit back for plastics bottles.
Dzombak acknowledged that a second concern about bottled water is that chemicals in the plastic containers can slowly leech into the water.
"If the bottle is in a hot environment or direct sunlight, that can accelerate that a bit. The amounts are very small, but that does occur," Dzombak said.
For water drinkers who dislike the bottle but enjoy the pure water, the future may lie with home filters, which officials said are growing in popularity.
"That's why I actually bring my own bottle to school and fill it every day," one student said.
A habit more people in the green movement may soon follow.
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/15250354/detail.html
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