Bottled water is a good thing, but there are people who would have you believe otherwise.
Supporters of Think Outside The Bottle (TOTB) pledge to use water bottles filled with tap water and support politicians who "prioritize strong public water systems over bottled water profits," according to the organization's Web site.
Bottled water companies provide a useful product that millions of Americans enjoy every year. According to a Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate survey, over 60 percent of Tufts students sip bottled water at events.
There are two benefits of bottled water: convenience and quality.
Bottled water is more convenient than a water bottle. If you carry around a water bottle (or Nalgene) and empty it, you cannot throw it away. It is a pain to carry around when you don't need it. It is also a burden to drag around a full bottle of water when you are not thirsty.
Bottled water has neither of these drawbacks. You have it when you need it, and once you are done with a bottle of water, you can toss it.
What about the environment, you ask? Well, here's the thing: bottled water is recyclable. Instead of lugging around a Nalgene, just recycle your bottled water. You get both the convenience of bottled water and a sense of moral superiority - what a deal!
At events, bottled water is a convenient refreshment for organizers because it appeals to everyone. It is also easy to store.
Bottled water is safer than some tap water. Tap water varies in quality in different areas. TOTB points out that several brands of bottled water are simply tap water.
They imply that companies are selling back the same product to consumers at a 30,000 percent markup. However, tap water is not a uniform product. Tap water in some places is safe, and in some is unsafe. Selling safe tap water in places where the tap water is unsafe is perfectly reasonable.
TOTB argues that all tap water is safe. It is not. Municipal governments are not perfect. A 1992 California study found that pregnant women who drank tap water from their area had a higher rate of spontaneous abortions than women who drank solely bottled water. Consumers should find out if their tap water is safe and not make decisions on food safety based on ideology. If their tap water is unsafe, they should seek a safer alternative.
This debate really isn't about bottled water, but about public goods. A public good is something that is non-rival; my benefiting does not prevent you from benefiting. It is also non-excludable: you cannot prevent people from benefiting. Public art and street lighting are public goods. They cannot be provided for by the market and so are cases for justified government intervention.
TOTB claims that water is a public good and it is being undermined by bottled water. Water is not a public good. It is simple to prevent people from benefiting from water, and there is, in fact, a limited amount of water, so it is a rival good.
TOTB furthermore claims that bottled water creates poverty. It provides no evidences of this. Poverty is not new. Bottled water did not create unsafe drinking water. Instead, it is providing a solution to a problem many municipal governments have been unable to solve.
Individuals should make choices based on their own needs, desires and preferences. When they do, everyone is better off. If bottled water is safer and more convenient, then consumers should buy it. If a Nalgene full of tap water is a better deal, then they should carry that around. Moralizing over bottled water is ridiculous.
Xander Zebrose is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Alexander.Zebrose@tufts.edu.
