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23
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 J. Cory Connolly and Kyle Bryan, Michigan State University
Situated in a region geographically defined by water, the cities and municipalities of the Midwest region must take a leading stanceon water use and eliminate public funding for bottled water. Thediversion of public funding to bottled water has negative impacts financially and environmentally.
Despite being home to one of the world’s best public water systems, theUnited States consumes more bottled water than any other country inthe world. City governments like East Lansing, MI can take a stance onthis essentially environmentally-detrimental and unnecessary spendingby eliminating the purchase of bottled water with government funds.Doing this can save money and address environmental concerns withoutcompromising health concerns
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ackGround
Since the 1700s mineral water and spring water have been hailed fortheir purity and their medicinal uses, but it was not until the 1990s thatthe bottled water industry truly gained a foothold in the United States.In 2002, a survey sponsored by the EPA determined that 74percent of Americans drink bottled water; one out of five drink only bottled water.In 2007, Americans drank more than twice the amount of bottled water
as in 1997, guzzling 8.8 billion gallons at a cost of $10.3 billion in 2007,
according to the Beverage Marketing Corp., a research and consultingfirm based in New York.
a
naLysis
Health Concerns 
While smart marketing has long cast bottled water as a “pure” option,research shows that U.S. tap water may be just as healthy and that insome instances, bottled water is actually a greater health risk. In truth,tap water is actually subject to more rigorous standards of testing thanis bottled water. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continuouslyregulates tap water in the U.S., but it only regulates bottled water that
is sold across state boundaries. Ultimately, the FDA regulates only 30
to 40 percent of bottled water. In addition, approximately a quarter of bottled water brands have contained contaminated samples. Plastic wa-ter bottles often leach chemicals into the water they contain as well.
Economic Concerns 
Health debates aside, there is no question about economic impact of bottled water—it costs citizens, cities and government-funded organiza-tions significant and unnecessary sums of money each year. In a 2007survey, the group Food and Water Watch documented that bottled water
costs on average one dollar per liter, or $3.79 per gallon, whereas the
EPA estimates that a gallon of tap water costs $0.002 nationwide.
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