KOMO- Seattle University outlaws bottled water on campus

October 15, 2010

By Conor Christofferson

Bottled water is a ubiquitous part of American society, but there's now one place in Seattle where the little plastic bottles are nowhere in sight.

Yesterday, after years of work by a small but impassioned group of students, Seattle University became the first college on the west coast to completely rid itself of bottled water. The school will no longer sell water in its vending machines, concession stands, bookstores or on-campus restaurants.

The move comes after three years of surveys, taste tests and studies that looked at both the social and environmental ramifications of drinking bottled water.

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Spencer Black, a senior majoring in environmental studies, began thinking about the issue as a freshman. He cites famed theology professor Gary Chamberlain as a driving force behind the campaign. He said Chamberlain taught students about the ethical issues surrounding bottled water, rather than focusing solely on the environmental impacts.

It is not global warming or terrorism or economic uncertainty that worries Black most about the future. He said water scarcity is the most pressing issue facing humans today, and he blames bottled water companies for wasting natural resources.

With help from 20 or 30 other interested students, Black began what would become a three-year process of eliminating bottled water from campus. He set up information tables, held rallies and spoke with student leaders and school officials about the problem.

After speaking with nearly every student on campus, Black was able to turn in a petition against bottled water containing more than 800 signatures, which represents nearly a fourth of the school's entire undergraduate population.

“There were always challenges,” he said. “I’ve heard every argument against it, but I feel like if I have 30 minutes with someone, I can convince them.”

Along the way, the students picked up the support of Massachusetts-based Corporate Accountability International, a grassroots public education organization.

CAI had already worked with students at Brown University and Tufts University in their own battles to remove bottled water from campus, and the group shared its tools with the students at Seattle University.

“They’re at the forefront of a large, national movement,” said John Stewart, a CAI campaign organizer. “This is absolutely a burgeoning trend."

After more than two years of studying the issues surrounding bottled water, Black and his cohorts were well-oiled machines by the time they actually pitched the idea to the higher ups in the university’s administration.

Seattle University officials pride themselves on being a beacon for progressive environmental issues, and by all accounts they were just as thrilled with the idea as the students were.

Casey Corr is the director of strategic communication for the school’s Marketing and Communications department. He said students came in so prepared and with such excitement for the issue that it wasn’t difficult to convince the administration to sign off on the ban.

“All I heard was enthusiasm,” Corr said. “It’s really a tribute to the kind of students we have here.”

Without bottled water for sale, the school is now selling reusable water bottles throughout campus. A portion of the sales will benefit the university’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders, which provides clean tap water to the people of Haiti.

While Black is ecstatic about his accomplishment, he hopes this is just the beginning of a much larger trend, with more universities, more businesses and more individuals giving up bottled water.

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