LETTER: In Defense of Bottled Water

To the editors:

Bottled water and its role on campuses has become a topic of great interest—and sometimes, heated debate. The Crimson’s Oct. 13, 2010, editorial “Bottle It Up,” which advocated for a ban of this healthful beverage choice, showed that Harvard University is no exception. I hope to provide some much needed clarification on the issue from a viewpoint you may not have heard yet.

In an age when American adults consume 450 calories a day from beverages and 68 percent of those 20 years old and older are classified as overweight or obese, bottled water provides a healthy choice when tap water is not accessible, preferred, or convenient. But if bottled water is not available, consumer research shows that more than one-half of people would choose soda instead. This means a ban on bottled water would have the unintended consequence of driving people to consume more unhealthy beverages that add calories and sugar to their diets.

While few can argue about the health benefits of “water,” college students and administrators may question the impact of “the bottle.” To better understand the environmental impact of bottled water and other beverage options, Nestlé Waters, a member of the International Bottled Water Association where I work, commissioned a first-of-its-kind, peer-reviewed life cycle assessment. This LCA found that bottled water has the lightest environmental footprint of all packaged beverages. This means that every time people choose bottled water instead of a packaged beverage such as soda or a sports drink, they are choosing a beverage that uses less water and energy. So banning bottled water is not only the wrong move for our health, but also the wrong move for the environment.

It’s also important to note that bottled water is not an either/or decision for most consumers; 70 percent of bottled water drinkers also drink from the tap. Simply put, people want access to clean, high-quality drinking water as part of their daily lives, and that is a good thing. Bottled water is an important choice in situations where there is a lack of water fountains or concern about water quality. You may recall bottled water’s key role during the boil water alert last May, which impacted about two million people in Massachusetts.

In sum, banning bottled water does not address the challenges students or other activists seek to resolve by demanding such a measure. Such bans do not improve water conservation practices, nor do they increase the diversion of plastic beverage containers from landfills. Rather, these bans succeed only in removing one of the most healthful beverage choices and replacing it with less healthy options that require more plastic and more water to produce than bottled water.

I hope you will reference this information and consider all the facts when evaluating whether or not any type of bottled water ban is in the best interest of your student community.

THOMAS J. LAURIA

Alexandria, Va.

Oct. 18, 2010

Thomas J. Lauria is the Vice President of Communications at the International Bottled Water Association.