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National Parks Being Lobbied To Do Away With Bottled Water, Install Filling Stations

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A lobbying effort is under way to get more national parks to phase-out bottled water in favor of reusable water bottles and water-filling stations, such as this one at Arches National Park. Kurt Repanshek photo.

It's been more than a year since bottled water and corporate America collided at Grand Canyon National Park, and the push continues to get more national parks to phase out packaged water in favor of fresh tap water and refillable bottles.

Next week National Park Service officials at Yosemite and Mount Rainier national parks, Independence Hall National Historical Park, and Golden Gate National Recreation Area will be presented with over-sized postcards urging them to phase out disposable water bottles.

At Corporate Accountability International, a non-profit that works to encourage cleaner environmental habits, officials intend to make March 27 a "national day of action ... in a heated battle between those who are fighting to get billions of plastic bottles out of our waste stream, and Coca-Cola (owner of Dasani), who is throwing hurdles in the way of those parks that want to become bottled water free."

Coca-Cola rose to the limelight back in November 2011 when an email trail seemed to indicate the beverage maker was pressuring the National Park Foundation to urge the Park Service not to ban disposable water bottles at Grand Canyon National Park. At the time, Park Service officials said they weren't bowing to corporate pressure but simply conducting due diligence on the impacts of such a ban. For instance, they said at the time, how might the safety of visitors to Southwestern parks such as the Grand Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands be impacted by a ban?

Ultimately, Grand Canyon officials, who had installed water filling stations early in 2011, were able to phase-out bottled water and put to use filling stations they had installed

Kristin Urquiza, who oversees the "Outside the Bottle and Public Works Compaign" for Corporate Accountability International, says more parks need to follow Zion, Hawaii Volcanoes, and Grand Canyon national parks in phasing out the sale of disposable water bottles.

At the same time, she was critical of an extensive memorandum (attached below) Park Service Director Jon Jarvis sent out to his superintendents in the wake of the Grand Canyon uproar that directed the steps they would need to take to phase-out bottled water. That memo called for superintendents to, among other things, review the amount of waste that could be eliminated from their park; consider the costs of installing and maintaining water filling stations for visitors; review the resulting impact on concessionaire and cooperative association revenues, and; consult with the Park Service's Public Health Office.

Then, too, they must consider "contractual implications" to concessionaires, the cost and availability of BPA-free reusable containers, and signage so visitors can find water filling stations. Also, they need to take into consideration safety considerations for visitors who might resort to drinking water "from surface water sources with potential exposure to disease" or who neglect to carry enough water with them on hikes.

"That is a clear indication of how Coke, stepping in, really is putting pressure on the Park Service to make it much more difficult for additional parks to follow suit," maintained Ms. Urquiza during a phone conservation. "Coke and the other bottlers, Nestle and Pepsi, there were several conference calls that were organized with Park Service employees and representatives from the big bottlers, asking them to put a hiatus on additional bans, and really working to stop this from happening in additional places."

To get more parks to phase-out bottled water, the non-profit has been working with stakeholders in and out of national parks, including concessionaires, "to help give Park Service (superintendents) the support they need to really move forward on implementing a 'bottled-water-free' policy in their parks," she said.

While none of the four parks has given "firm commitments" to moving forward with a ban, said Ms. Urquiza, talks have been ongoing to examine the feasibility of such a ban.

"The real exciting feedback that we've been getting is that water in the parks is an incredibly important issue for superintendents," she said. "They want to figure out how to minimize the amount of waste, to promote public water."

The organization plans to organize efforts this fall in Washington, D.C., to lobby the Park Service to hold firm to its original plan of having refillable water stations in 75 percent of park visitor centers by 2016, while encouraging parks to discontinue the sale of disposable bottled water.

On March 27, next Wednesday, the non-profit hopes superintendents at Yosemite, Mount Rainier, Independence Hall, and Golden Gate will commit to moving forward with a ban of disposable water bottles. "Our hope is that the superintendents can make a public commitment to implementing bottled-water-free policies," Ms. Urquiza said. "We're really hopeful, and see this as a win-win for parks.

"... At the end of the day, it's really sending the wrong message for our national parks to be promoting bottled water," she added.

At least one reusable bottlemaker, Vapur, has been talking with national parks about installing water-filling stations for visitors. Company officials, however, have declined to discuss what progress they're making.

Comments

Kayker - how many strawmen can you put into a single rant?

providing everything a park-goer could concievably desire at their concessions.

Everything conceivable? No, he is asking for product that is in high demand.

at odds with protecting our shared water resources

Could you indicate how bottled water are at odds with water resources?

he GAO finds that bottled water is far less regulated than the tap.

So what?

causing parks to spend significant taxpayer dollars to recycle or dispose of them.

Any more than any other trash?

yet the park-goers who don't want to see parks serve as a concession stand and billboard for this private interest are the "nannies?"

But its OK for them to serve as a concession stand and billboard for hundreds of other products? Or just the products that you (the nanny) think are OK.


Everyone, everywhere, should ban bottled water. The earth is covered with plastic bottles. The TAP is where it's at for the most sustainable and healthy option. Please do not sell bottled water in the parks! Thanks.


The earth is covered with plastic bottles.

Yeah...... You think the more hyperbolic you are the "truer" it will be?


Ecbuck — I have recently come to realize that I do need to be told what to do at every waking moment. In fact I'm waiting for instructions from the authorities right now. Ah, here they come . . . They have just authorized me to type this reply. I hope I am writing it in a suitably responsible and constructive manner.


I think Sherwin-Williams already covered the earth, so the demonic forces behind the plastic bottle conspiracy are too late.


Geeeeee Whiz -- and here I was under the impression that trying to wisely use our finite resources and respect the fragile little planet upon which we live was being personally responsible. How passe' can I be?

I was also guilty of thinking that it's a bit of personal responsibility to try to stand up for what I believe is best for preserving our little spaceship for my grandkids and theirs. I guess that's what makes me one of those doggoned disgusting liberals. I actually try to do what's right as I go about living every day. Maybe I just have my priorities backwards and am failing to properly revere the almighty dollar.

But maybe Mtnbke is right. Perhaps those who don't understand how to be personally responsible really do need to be instructed until they develop enough wisdom and maturity to be able to do it on their own. Then again, maybe that's just the old grade-school teacher coming out in me. I do hope, however, that the kids I taught learned that all of us are totally dependent upon this little blue and green ball we call home and will do all they can to protect it from those who would abuse it.

Just for fun, here's a link to a site I found earlier while researching bottled water:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/image/watertruth

And for those who can't figure it out on their own, that is a bit of something called humor.


Thanks, Lee. That graphic you link to is entertaining. I and ecbuck have been politely requested by Kurt to tone down the sarcasm on this thread, so I'm not going to post with more of my own forms of humor. Actually, I scratch my head when I see people paying $1.79 for a 16-ounce bottle of water at a gas station when there's a drinking fountain nearby. But this leads to the endless debate: do people have good reason for the things they do or are they mindless sheep led around by skillful advertising agency talent? I go back and forth on that question all the time.


Like everyone, I don't really to be told what to do, especially by bureaucrats. On the other hand, I do understand that water bottles are less than ideal. When I ride, I have a hydration pack, so I really don't feel that impacted by the potential ban anyway. Plus, I tend not to go to national parks anyway. The problem always ends up being where you draw the line. Banning the plastic bottles, then banning horse rides in the park, swimming pools, bike rentals.

It sure seems that our bureaucracies have lost common sense, and are living in a world where any environmental impact, no matter how trivial, cannot be tolerated, and that costs to remediate or impacts on users are of no consequence. That seems quite odd to me. I mean, if we go down that path, we may as well close the parks so that they can be perfectly preserved in eternity... but for whom?


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