Suffolk County Water Authority Joins Tap Into The City in Campaign to “Kick the Bottled Water Habit"

New York City, USA (SANEPR.com) October 3, 2008 -- Long Island has joined the growing number of American communities dedicated to helping the environment by encouraging residents to drink their local tap water and “kick the bottled water habit”. The announcement came last week from the Suffolk County Water Authority, which is offering environmentally friendly, reusable water bottles produced by Tap Into the City www.tapintothecity.com, free of charge.

Contrary to commonly held beliefs; tap water is safer than bottled water because of more rigorous mandated drinking-water standards. “Suffolk County’s water meets and exceeds federal and state water standards, and is tested far more often than bottled water. It truly is ‘Long Island’s buried treasure.’ explained Water Authority Chairman Michael A. LoGrande. “Many people may not realize that most bottled water consumed here on Long Island actually comes from municipal tap water piped into Coke and Pepsi bottling plants.”

“Buying bottled water daily - or even occasionally - may seem harmless enough, but last year Americans consumed 50 billion single-use water bottles. 85% of these bottles ended up in landfills,” said Sandy McKelvey, founder of Tap Into the City. “We are gratified that Suffolk County has taken the lead and pledged to work with their citizens, urging them to drink local tap water and thereby help build a more sustainable future.”

Single-use plastic water bottles have a devastating effect on the environment, producing 2.5 million tons of the greenhouse gas CO2 annually from manufacturing and hundreds of thousands of tons of CO2 from transportation. Also highly wasteful, the disposable bottles require more than 17 million barrels of oil annually in the U.S. alone to produce. Coupled with transportation and other costs, single-use bottles account for nearly 49 million barrels of wasted oil per year, enough to fuel three-million U.S. cars for a year.

“We sincerely hope Suffolk County Water Authority customers will realize the devastating effect that the manufacture, transport and disposal of bottled water has on our environment, and take advantage of these reusable water bottles to help them make the switch to drinking tap,” said Stephen Jones, CEO of Suffolk County Water Authority. “Our non-leaching, reusable bottles are made entirely in New York State with post-industrial recycled plastic, therefore decreasing the amount of oil and carbon that would have been used to manufacture them and transport them from another state.”

Prior to the Suffolk County Water Authority joining this campaign, Tap Into The City launched the NYC H2O Sports Bottle in December 2007, encouraging residents and visitors to choose New York City tap water over bottled water. At that time, Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz said, “It’s a brilliant idea whose time has not only come – but is long overdue!” Other municipalities nationwide will be adopting similar programs in coming months.

“Thanks to the local water authorities and the municipalities that maintain our infrastructure and protect our source water, U.S. tap water is among the world’s best. We are now aware that the choices we make today have an irreversible impact on the environment tomorrow. By returning to the tap, and by using safe, recycled bottles, we can kick our bottled water habit,” concluded McKelvey.

About Tap into the City
Tap Into The City was founded in 2007 to promote tap water and raise awareness about the environmental impact of consuming bottled water. Tap Into The City customizes bottles for companies and organizations seeking to promote the public benefits of tap water to their employees, constituents or customers. As a full-service company, Tap Into The City designs and produces sports bottles and other promotional materials supporting tap water campaigns across the country. The company also offers the NYC H2O Sports Bottle, made from safe, non-leaching, recycled HDPE plastic as an alternative to buying bottled water. To get more information or to purchase an NYC H2O Sports Bottle, visit www.tapintothecity.com.


Drink NYC H2O. Straight from the tap.