Never mind the bottles

Posted May 17, 2007 in [Water]

The City of Toronto is pitching tap water as the cheaper, greener - and maybe healthier - alternative

Joshua Knelman, The Globe and Mail, May 12, 2007 - From his 18th-floor office at Metro Hall, Patrick Newland, director of the City of Toronto's water supply, has a fine view: Glittering in his window is Lake Ontario, one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world. “We're starting with something that's pretty good,” he says proudly. Three to five kilometres out, pumps draw its water in toward shore, where it travels through four treatment plants to the thirsty city.

“Our treatment processes are top-notch,” Mr. Newland says. “Both our raw water

and our treated water – it's

exceptional.”

That's why he's frustrated that more Torontonians have been opting for expensive bottled brands. But in his hands is an answer: the latest City of Toronto reusable sports bottle, with a label reading FILL WITH TORONTO'S QUALITY TAP WATER. Last year, the city gave away 20,000 of them, and this summer it will ramp up its efforts to persuade Torontonians to choose tap water – taking advantage of a growing realization that bottled water is more environmentally wasteful and no healthier than what comes out of the tap.

Indeed, tap water seems poised for a comeback after five decades of declining popularity. Groups in San Francisco and New York are battling to rebrand tap water's tarnished image by serving it in restaurants, and a growing environmental army is spouting off against the unnecessary garbage created by millions of discarded empty bottles.

Here in Toronto, Mayor David Miller decided to serve jugs of tap water at council meetings and press conferences. “Bottled water is totally unnecessary,” Mr. Miller states unequivocally. “Our tap water is purer than Perrier.”

Mr. Newland echoes Mr. Miller's argument that Toronto's tap water is as good, or better, than bottled: “If bottled water companies had to go through the same process as our water, some of them might simply go out of business,” he says.

In fact, there is growing criticism from scientists and doctors over bottled water. New research indicates that some plastic bottles can leach toxins into the water, and some dentists are concerned that a generation of children weaned on non-fluoridated bottled brands instead of fluoridated tap water are experiencing more cavities.

The Ontario Dental Association says fluoridated water is proven to fight tooth decay.

But Mr. Newland – who will argue the benefits of tap water in a newsletter that goes out this month to every Toronto household – admits the city can't compete with the bottled industry's marketing power. According to the Canadian Bottled Water Association, Canada sucked up 1.9 billion litres from bottles in 2005, the industry gathering $653-million in revenue, up more than $100-million from the previous year. (That's a small fraction of the multibillion-dollar global market.)

As Mr. Newland explains, there are a few reasons why people who use his product to shower, brush their teeth and make coffee each morning might choose a more expensive bottle over filling up at the tap, which costs about one cent a glass: “Convenience is the No. 1 factor,” he says, followed by the myth that bottled water is healthier.

The latter is, in fact, not true, according to Monica Campbell, a manager with Toronto's Environmental Protection Office. She says there is absolutely no health benefit to choosing bottled water over tap. “Toronto water quality is excellent,” says Ms. Campbell, whose department has compared the contents of Toronto tap water against some of the major bottled brands. The tap is “a safe, cheap and reliable source of drinking water. If people are buying bottled water because they think it's a safer product, that's not the case.”

So if Toronto produces first-rate drinking water, why can't the city simply bottle its own tap water and sell it to Toronto at a wholesale rate, or simply give it away? Does Toronto manufacture enough water to supply the growing bottled-water demand? “Easily,” responds Mr. Newland, who points out that Dasani (made by Coke) and Aquafina (from Pepsi) are now the two top-selling brands in the city. Both companies bottle filtered municipal tap water, one from Calgary and Brampton, the other from Mississauga and Vancouver.

Mr. Newland smiles at the idea of bottling municipal tap water for everyone: “I'm not arguing with you. It's a political decision. If the politicians gave me directions to start bottling tap water, then so be it. I could easily do it.”

In fact, Mr. Newland says city council recently agreed to purchase a portable water-bottling unit capable of churning out 3,000 bottles an hour, in an effort to wean municipal events off bottled brands and to promote tap water.

“Hopefully the unit will be operational this summer,” he says. “In a feasibility study, we're looking to produce about 50,000 bottles. We're still trying to get a handle on what city departments use bottled water for.”

He also points out that, in emergencies, the city could bottle water wherever it was needed.”

Still, given the glaring fact that the city already produces enough safe, clean drinking water, couldn't Toronto simply bottle water for everyone in order to solve the convenience issue? On the phone, Mr. Miller raises a verbal eyebrow: “And compete with Coke and Pepsi? It's an interesting thought.”

In the meantime, Mr. Newland says, he's battling to change people's minds. Recently in Toronto, he was having dinner with colleagues from other municipal water suppliers. Their waiter asked if the group wanted fizzy or flat water, but Mr. Newland insisted on tap. When the waiter shot Mr. Newland a strange look, the director asked him a few questions. “He was in his early 20s, from rural Nova Scotia. When he first arrived in Toronto, people told him the tap water wasn't safe.”

Mr. Newland invited the young man to sit down. “I educated him – and that's the big issue here.”

Brand over brain

In Toronto, bottled water has always played on fears about tap water. In 1963, a 17-year-old named Wayne Smart started Crystal Springs Water Company, shipping spring water from

Niagara-on-the-Lake to the city – where the introduction of fluoride into the city's water had some people nervous.

To marketing professor Robert Soroka, it demonstrates the power of brand over brain. “I'm not even sure a lot of people know what they're buying,” says Prof. Soroka of McGill University. “It's perceived that water in a bottle is healthier. What's more significant is what's not said – you don't see statements from any bottled water companies about the fact that it's better than tap water.

“They've been bright about this,” Mr. Soroka points out. “There's a lot of branding and packaging, but the fact is,

it's water.

“When someone pays more for a bottle, a lot of what they're paying for is the marketing dollar that went into the brand. I don't know of anything else like this, unless somebody starts to sell air – and don't kid yourself;

someone will.” Joshua Knelman

How to get rid of that swimming-pool smell

According to Patrick Newland, the smell of chlorine in tap water can be a turn-off. “Some people are very sensitive to the odour and the taste,” he says. (The chemical is added as a disinfectant in low doses: Water reaches the average Toronto tap holding 0.8 milligrams per litre.) But Mr. Newland has good advice for the chlorine-sensitive: “Fill a pitcher full of tap water, stir it a bit, and let it sit for a few minutes uncovered,” he says. “A lot of the

chlorine will dissipate.” And if you're really sensitive, “stir it and put it in the fridge overnight.

“By morning, there will be no trace of chlorine.” Joshua Knelman