NOW THAT citizens of the southern NSW town of Bundanoon have voted to ban sales of bottled water by the end of this year, perhaps the idea will spread.

Paying very high prices for water that is merely filtered – water sold as ‘mineral’ water must comply to a standard regarding content – is being recognised for the commercial rip-off that it is. Its legacy is not only taking money from the pockets of its drinkers, it is a high-carbon product when the resource and energy production costs its PET plastic packaging, with its embodied energy, are taken into account. Then there’s the cost of cleaning the discarded, empty packaging from our beaches and streets, and the landfill issue.

Why pay high prices for what you can get free? Filling up with free filtered water at a Manly Council bubbler in The Corso.

The bottles, of course, can be reused, however there is growing consumer resistance to doing this with allegations of chemicals leaching from the bottle into its contents. Even keeping bottled water in your car can have health impacts because, as the water rises in temperature, it becomes a fine medium for bacterial growth. The plastic of used bottles, however, can be converted into other products. Adventure equipment manufacturer, Paddy Pallin, makes a colourful line of warm jackets from the material of old PET bottles.

It seems the era of the refillable bottle may be about to dawn, if the ban spreads. Manly Food Co-op, for instance, carries a line in refillable stainless steel bottles. These are lightweight and, being steel rather than aluminium (such as the popular Sigg bottles are made from), they can be filled with liquids other than water, like orange juice. You can get these elsewhere, too. Sigg also make a range of internally-coated aluminium bottles that can handle juice, however last time I checked they would not disclose the plastic they coat the inside of the bottle with, ignoring the public right to know (especially about materials users of their product could ingest and that could have negative health effects) and raising questions as to food safety assurances around whether their plastic release chemicals into the liquids inside the bottles.

As for polycarbonate bottles – those hard, durable plastic types – they have been reported to leach chemicals too, however I understand that some manufacturers have started to produce polycarbonates bottles that do not do this.

A challenge to the Bundanoon ban by the packaging industry would paint it into the same corner that its resistance to container deposit legislation (CDL) has forced it in all states but South Australia. Even such an influential organisation as Clean-Up Australia has remained mute on CDL, clearly preferring to pick up the discards rather than solve the problem at source. So has federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

Interestingly, the NSW government is ordering its departments to get rid of plastic bottled water.

So, what’s the solution?

Do we go thirsty in public or just drop into the nearest bar when we feel a thirst coming on?

Look no further than Manly for the answer. There, Manly Council engaged Culligan Water to install filtered water refilling stations in The Corso. Bearing a message about it being a climate change initiative, the filling stations are equipped with a tap, conveniently placed for refilling water bottles, and an adjacent bubbler. More bubblers would be a good idea in all municipalities and all shopping centres, including big box malls.

Despite its sometimes bad press, Sydney tap water, it turns out, really is safe to drink, even if it is unfliltered. If you don’t believe me, do an experiment with you as subject and compare it to drinking some of the stuff you get from the tap (where they can be found) in developing countries.