ERMUSR MISC 07-09-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 ~ WATER FROM EI Minneapolis, for example, tests its water for more than 100 contaminants. A new fil- tration system in Columbia Heights removes more impu- ritiesthan are required for fed- eral water quality standards. More than 500,000 residents, including Minneapolis, Gold- en Valley, Crystal, New Hope and Columbia Heights get wa- ter from its plant. Buying a bottle of water at a convenience store for 79 cents may seem cheap, but a consumer can fill the same bottle 2,850 times at the price of Minneapolis water, ac- cording to the city's website. While many Americans moan about the price of gasoline, few seem to groan about the price of bottled water, which, if you're choosing Fiji's rect- angular bottle, costs about $8.50 a gallon ($2.25 fora 1- liter bottle). In total, Amer- icans spend about $11 billion yearly on bottled water'. Oil and water do mix Carrying around liquid re- freshment on a hot summer day may be refreshing, but not "green." More than 1.5 million barrels of oil are needed each year to produce plastic water bottles for Americans, accord- ing to the Earth Policy Institute in Washington D.C., enough to fuel 100,000 U.S. cars for one year. Unfortunately, only 20 percent of those containers are being recycled, according to the National Association for PET Container Resourc- eS']n (:harlottP. N_C: Manv arr~ thrown away by consumers on the go who can't fmd a recy- cling option in parks or shop- ping malls, said Angie Tim- mons, asenior planning an- alyst with Hennepin County Environmental Services. The impact isn't just the mountains of plastic water bottles trashed, but also the amount of fuel necessary to ship water from the source to the point of consumption. Con- sumers may feel a little sheep- ish paying big bucks to have water shipped from Fiji or France only to find they can't taste a big difference between H2O from the hinterlands and their own tap. Some leaders are beginning to see it as a political and mor- al issue. A documentary called "Troubled Waters" looked at the rationale that bottling water takes water resources away from the poor in devel- oping countries. The film was co-sponsored by the National Coalition of Amerir_an Nuns and Presbyterians for Restor- ing Creation and the United Church of Christ. Last month, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak cospon- sored aresolution at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Los Angeles calling for a study on the impact of bottled water on cities' budgets and waste dis- posal. Rybak wants to com- bat the belief that bottled wa- ter is safer and healthier than tap water. John Ewoldt • 612-673-7633 or jewoldt aCstartribune.com. His articles are online at www:startribune.com/ .~,.u ~ ~~