Tap Water Challenge
Think Outside the Bottle
It seems like bottled water isn’t winning too many supporters in the Northwest.
Mount Rainier National Park Superintendent Randy King issued a statement last week announcing the park’s intent to install water bottle fill stations, retail low-cost reusable water bottles, and otherwise take steps to reduce the impacts of bottled water at the park. Mount Rainier is one of four national parks being asked to take the anti-water bottle pledge.
These parks are joining a larger national movement led by Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle campaign which has supported states, cities, universities, businesses, and nearly one in five adults in switching from bottled water to the tap. The organization’s success has saved millions of taxpayer dollars, significantly reduced the industry’s environmental impact, and brought vital attention to the need to reinvest in public water systems long maligned by bottled-water industry marketing.
Emily Rich, organizer of Think Outside the Bottle, set up a bottled water taste test for April Fools’ Day at Victor Steinbrueck Park outside of Pike Place Market in Seattle, to see if tasters could tell the difference between tap and bottled. They made the point that we have great water in the Northwest, and purchasing bottled unnecessarily adds to our landfills.
