Connecticut Urged to Dump Bottled Water
HARTFORD — Lawmakers yesterday urged the state to break its three-year contract with Nestle Waters North America Inc., a Greenwich company that supplies Poland Spring bottled water to offices.
They want state employees and visitors to quench their thirst at faucets and drinking fountains, saying public water is as safe if not safer than bottled.
The initiative is being led by state Rep. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Bue grew up in Greenwich and Blumenthal lives there now.
Bye said her objective is to save taxpayers money. The state spends $11,600 annually to supply bottled water to offices in the capitol and adjacent Legislative Office Building, she said.
State agencies spend $500,000 annually on bottled water and water coolers, Bye said. The state should instead invest in more drinking fountains at $1,550 each, she said.
The state’s contract with Nestle began in September and ends in 2010, according to the Office of Legislative Management.
"Individuals can drink water from a bottle if they want to buy it," Bye said.
Others who attended the news conference said they hope municipalities, businesses and residents will convert to tap water, too.
"The fact is bottled water is tremendously wasteful," said Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford. "The problem in this country is waste — waste of energy, money and resources."
Some experts said tap water is far better regulated and tests have found no microbial difference with bottled water.
Some have challenged the bottled water industry.
In 2003, Nestle settled lawsuits that Poland Spring is not naturally pure spring water from the Maine woods.
Congress last week asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the quality, labeling and economic effect of bottled water.
But environmental groups have raised concerns about the quality of tap water. The federal government does not require monitoring of more than 100 possible contaminants detected in public water supplies from 1998 to 2003, groups say.
Nestle spokeswoman Jane Lazgin declined to say whether bottled water is better than tap.
"I don’t know enough," Lazgin said. "I can’t tell you (about) tap water from city to city or house to house."
Lazgin said Nestle believes there is room for both, and bottled water is healthier than sugary drinks.
Nestle Waters works hard to be an environmentally friendly company, reusing its 5-gallon water coolers containers 35 times before recycling them, she said.
Bye said Illinois last fall suspended purchases of bottled water. An Illinois state spokeswoman said the decision was made to cut costs and to be fair, since only some state agencies were purchasing bottled water. All public employees now drink from the tap or pool their own money to buy bottled water, the spokeswoman said.
Blumenthal and Bye said they do not think their actions will hurt Nestle’s bottom line. Nestle Waters employs 700 people in Greenwich. Bottled water has been the fastest growing product in the beverage industry, Lazgin said.
"I just believe in a corporation’s ability to adjust," Bye said. "There are many ways for Nestle as a food and beverage giant to make money."
Greenwich lawmakers said they doubt the bottled water market will dry up any time soon.
"If you told me 15 to 20 years ago I’d be drinking bottled water, I’d say no way," state Rep. Lile Gibbons, R-Greenwich, said.
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