May 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 39

producing safe, clean, public drinking water is far, far cheaper than bottled water, in many cases hundreds,
if not thousands of times cheaper.
Despite being a nation with some of
the best public drinking water in the
world, the U.S. produces nearly 29
billion disposable water bottles annually, more than any other country.
Some advocates of reducing bottled
water use have even raised the issue
of social justice regarding bottled
water. If the more affluent can afford and will buy bottled water in
preference to tap water, they ask,
what will happen to municipal public water systems that provide clean
drinking water to underserved communities? Will public investment in
keeping these systems in top-notch
condition continue if the well-off
switch to drinking primarily bottled
water?
Despite such concerns,
bottled water sales skyrocketed in recent years, growing at double-digit rates
annually for more than a
decade. Sales are continuing to grow in the the high
single-digit
percentages
each year, and growth is
expected to stay strong.
Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a national
advocacy group, estimates
that disposable bottles are
the largest single source of
trash in national parks and
represent fully one-third of
all trash that must be hauled
away from parks. In 2011,
the National Park Service
dropped plans for a ban in
Grand Canyon National
Park, but subsequently adopted a servicewide policy

that allows park superintendents to
prohibit the sale of bottled water in
specific national parks after a rigorous analysis and as long as a number
of conditions are met. Fourteen national park units have now instituted
bans, according to National Parks
Traveler.
Sustainable Parks Can Do More
If there are acknowledged environmental, economic and even social
impacts from disposable bottled
water, many conservation-minded
parks professionals ask if this is not
an issue upon which agencies that
are trying to " green " should be taking action. If we are trying to make
our agencies more environmentally
sustainable, to do more to make people healthy, and to show the public
we are more socially responsible,

there is a growing consensus that we
need to come to grips with the problems surrounding the use of bottled
water.
Looking at the big picture, it is
difficult to reconcile a strong push
for sustainability in parks without
at least acknowledging that the ever-growing use of bottled water and
the attendant problems it creates
(trash, energy use, etc.) creates a
disconnect with our vision of what
makes sustainable parks.
While park and recreation agencies have generally not stepped up
to address the issue, a number of
public institutions are leading the
way to reduce the proliferation of
bottled water and restrict its sales.
The Board of Supervisors of the
City of San Francisco just approved
a ban on all sales of bottled water on
public property in March
2014, although they did
allow some limited waiver provisions in the bill.
Colleges and universities
are on the forefront of
public institutions that are
restricting bottled water
sales or adopting policies
to reduce bottled water
use. The picture for parks
and recreation is not as
clear.
A recent query to some
park and recreation leaders indicated that most
agencies recognize the
growing use of bottled
The Green Team in Washoe
County, Nevada, installed
hydration stations with educational messages in two county
buildings and is looking for
grant funding to install additional stations in parks and
libraries.

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