My freshman year, I passed out in Blackwell's second floor bathroom and split my lip on a toilet seat. Sent to the hospital, I was told I was seriously dehydrated. I hadn't even been drinking alcohol (no, honestly. I hadn't). It was that I simply wasn't drinking enough water. The doctors had to pump three liters of fluid through my veins. That was a fairly rough day, but I learned an important lesson. Water: It's pretty important.
That's why I was happy with PepsiCo's decision, late last month, to recognize access to water as a human right. Pepsi and its main competitor Coca-Cola (perhaps you've heard of them?) operate bottling plants across the world that have often been linked to water shortages and polluted drinking water in nearby communities; for example, a Coke bottling facility in the Kerala state of India was shut down in 2004, due to its pollution of the local area.
So Pepsi's decision to recognize that human beings have a right to unpolluted water is a welcome step. But this isn't an article saying you should buy Pepsi over Coke. In fact, when it comes to PepsiCo's "Aquafina" bottled water, versus Coca-Cola's "Dasani," there's no good choice. Frankly, you should never buy bottled water. At all.
In explaining why bottled water is a bad choice, I feel like a mosquito at a nudist colony: I don't know where to start. But it's worth pointing out that up to 40 percent of bottled water in the U.S. and Canada is actually taken directly from tap water. You know how some people say bottled water tastes exactly like tap water? That would be the reason.
Also, there are environmental considerations: When you put something in a plastic bottle and drive it around in a bunch of trucks before making it available to the public, you're not exactly helping out Mother Earth.
And when did tap water go out of style, anyway? It's free to drink from a faucet, and it costs money to drink from a bottle. That should be a no-brainer. And if you're the kind of person who wants your water to be portable, there's a solution for that: Carry an empty bottle around with you, and fill it up when you're thirsty. I just saved you money. You're welcome.
There are lots of problems with bottled water, but what bothers me most is the fact that we are being socially conditioned to pay for something that all humans need to live. Paying for water is, admittedly, somewhat like paying for housing or food. It's also somewhat like paying for air, or sunlight. A human being will be hard-pressed to live for two weeks without water: bottled water companies have capitalized on this fact. Companies can make huge profits buying water rights in an area, then selling the water at drastically inflated prices. In developing countries, families are no longer able to pay for the water they need, not because there's a shortage of water, but because the water is now privately controlled.
If this situation sounds familiar, I should point out that it was the scheme of the bad guy in the newest James Bond movie, "Quantum of Solace." In the movie, we cheered Bond's success in foiling the villain's plot. In the real world, however, we buy bottled water without a thought toward what precedent we're setting, or whom we are disempowering.
There are a lot of bottled water options here at Duke, partly because we have such a cozy relationship with our bottled water companies. Last semester, Coca-Cola sponsored a seminar on, of all things, environmental policy. I'm not advocating that we kick Coke and Pepsi off campus. I am saying that we should stop selling bottled water on campus. Now, Durham does happen to be drought-prone, so perhaps we cannot quit our bottled-water habit cold turkey. But if we don't rely on bottled water as a crutch, we would be motivated to reinvest in Durham's water infrastructure, which would benefit both Duke and the surrounding community, while better preparing us for possible future droughts. Similarly, if we encourage the development of safe and community-oriented water systems around the world, then we're creating a situation where water is seen not as a commodity, but as a public good.
Maybe you disagree with me, and think that Duke must always have bottled water as an option. Fair enough; maybe Duke does need bottled water. But do you need it? Could you make a personal commitment to choosing tap water over bottled water? I urge you to give it a try; buy yourself a refillable water bottle or just find the location of the faucet nearest your classroom. Maybe Duke, as a University, can't stop using bottled water. But Duke, as a community, certainly can.
James Tager is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Tuesday.
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