Forget bottled water, tap water as good as it gets

Tommy Koh & Leong Ching, Straits Times 2 Jul 09;

WATER is a common but very precious asset. Without water, human beings cannot survive. Without water, the planet's ecosystem, which sustains life, will be destroyed. Without water, there will be no agriculture and no industry. Without water, life on planet Earth will perish.

We regard the right of a person to safe and affordable water as a basic human right. It is a great shame that, at the beginning of the 21st century, about one billion out of six billion people do not enjoy this right. In Asia, about 700 million people do not have access to safe and affordable water.

In Singapore, all citizens have access to clean water at an affordable price. The water from our taps is safe to drink. In spite of this fact, many Singaporeans still boil their water. In recent years, partly because of our growing affluence and partly because of the influence of the West, Singaporeans are drinking more and more bottled water. In 2007, Singaporeans spent $98.3 million on bottled water, an increase of 80 per cent over 10 years. We observe that some of our ministries and universities serve bottled water instead of tap water. In many restaurants, the waiters pressure their customers to order bottled water.

We want to start a campaign to persuade Singaporeans to drink tap water instead of bottled water, whenever possible. The following are our reasons.

First, it is a waste of your money. Bottled water is more expensive than petrol. For one bottle of water you buy off the shelf (at 50 cents), you can get 850 bottles off the tap (at $1.17 per cubic metre).

Second, the tap water is as safe as bottled water. In Singapore, the water in our taps is safe to drink and subjected to daily checks. Health-wise, there is no difference between drinking tap water and bottled water. On the contrary, tests in the United States have shown that sometimes harmful chemicals, such as bisphenol-A (BPA), can leach from bottled water. Other tests in the US have shown that expensive bottled water is no better than tap water.

Third, bottled water uses energy unnecessarily. To make water bottles, you need polyethylene terephthalate or PET, a derivative of crude oil. In the US, 1.5 million barrels of oil are used each year just to make bottles for the water industry. This is enough oil to power 100,000 cars for a year.

Fourth, bottled water is bad for the environment. In Singapore, most of the bottles are not recycled but incinerated. This uses energy and produces carbon dioxide, adding to our carbon emission. Some bottled water travels great distances to Singapore. We are importing bottled water from as far away as France, Italy, Fiji and Serbia. Transport consumes energy and produces carbon dioxide. This is another reason bottled water is not a friend of the environment.

Fifth, you should drink tap water because it is the right thing to do. We can understand the need to drink bottled water in places where the tap water is unsafe to drink.

In Singapore, there is no good reason to drink bottled water. It costs you more, but it does not make you healthier. It is unfriendly to the environment.

By all means boil your water if that makes you feel better, but please do not buy or serve bottled water if you can help it. If a waiter asks you, 'still water or bubbly water', you should politely say you prefer PUB water.

We think the Government should lead by example.

We therefore urge the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources to write to all ministries, statutory boards, agencies, Temasek-linked companies and educational institutions to consider stopping the practice of serving bottled water.

Professor Tommy Koh is the chairman of the Governing Council of the Asia Pacific Water Forum and chairman of the 2008 and 2009 Water Leaders Summits in Singapore.

Leong Ching is a PhD student at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

This is a revised version of an article appearing in the PUB publication Pure this month.

The right of a person to safe and affordable water is a basic human right. It is a great shame that, at the beginning of the 21st century, about one billion out of six billion people do not enjoy this right. In Asia, about 700 million people do not have access to safe and affordable water.

Encouraging tap water consumption
'The Government should impose an environment tax on bottled water.'
Straits Times Forum 6 Jul 09;

MR SEAH LEONG KHAI: 'Last Thursday's article by Professor Tommy Koh and Ms Leong Ching ('Forget bottled water, tap water as good as it gets') rightly points out the advantages of drinking tap water over bottled water in terms of cost and environmental impact. Tap water in Singapore is clean and can be consumed directly from the tap without boiling. So why do people still insist on bottled water? One reason must be bottled water's perceived cleanliness, and the other is convenience. As a good environmental practice, we should reduce the consumption of bottled water when clean tap water is available. People could carry a re-usable bottle to fill with tap water, and malls could install drinking fountains so shoppers can drink from them or refill their bottles there. Perhaps the Government should impose an environment tax on bottled water, similar to the water conservation tax consumers pay for piped water.'