Home Opinion Tapwater’s tops

Tapwater’s tops

Written by Baker City Herald Editorial Board November 20, 2009 03:54 am

It turns out that Baker City’s pristine tap water is not only good for you, it’s good for the environment.

Better than bottled water, anyway.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality released this week a study comparing the “greenness” of tap water and bottled water.

Among the study’s findings is that drinking tap water is the most environmentally friendly way to slake your thirst — more so even than drinking bottled water and recycling every plastic bottle you empty.

This is partly because bottled water has to be hauled from the source to the store — typically in fuel-guzzling trucks.

Plus, most consumers drive to the store to buy the water. And someone — either the consumer or a recycling company — drives the bottles to the recycling plant.

Baker City’s tapwater, by comparison, gets to your faucet through the non-polluting force of gravity. It’s also so pure that it need not be filtered to meet federal drinking water standards — a boast just three other Oregon cities can make.

And if you’re not impressed by our tapwater’s environmental pedigree, consider this:

It’s cheaper than bottled water, too.