Times Argus - Students Pan Bottled Water Mania

By Sarah Hinckley

MONTPELIER – Mayor Mary Hooper knows her city's water.

 
To mark World Water Day on Monday, nine students from Anne Watson's physics class at Montpelier High School put Hooper to the test – a taste test. Reminiscent of the cola taste tests of the 1980s, a blindfolded Hooper was presented three options of water – two bottled and one of the city's tap water. She easily identified the municipal water supply, seeming to counter the class's reason for the test.

 
"There really wasn't much of a difference with any of them," said Hooper, explaining how she pegged the tap water. "I think it was familiar, is what it was."

 
While Hooper was undergoing the taste test, which 48 people in the Hunger Mountain Cooperative had also taken over the last two weeks, Corporate Accountability International was mailing requests to all 50 governors in the country. The organization's request fell in line with that of the students – stop supporting bottled water, drink the local supply.

 
"Most people can't tell the difference between bottled water and tap water," said Kyle Martin, a senior at the high school, during the conference. "It doesn't make sense if you can't tell the difference between the two – or a minimal difference – why you would even buy bottled water,"

Naming their project Operation Plastic Removal, the high school students were focusing on reducing or eliminating use and purchase of bottled water as part of a renewable energy project in their physics class. Attempts made at the school to reduce bottled water provided for the students were denied, according to the members of the physics class. They instead began offering glass bottles for fellow students to use and have encouraged use of stainless steel water bottles.

 
"Our goal is to just kind of provide awareness," said Morgan Segale, a senior and member of the class. "I think we're doing a pretty good job, so far."

 
She and the other students said a trend to give up buying and drinking bottled water is catching on at the school. One of the other students pointed out they were motivated after learning about Bisphenol-A – or BPAs – an agent in hard plastic bottles believed to lead to development of cancer.

 
The students' presentation was a local show of support for the Corporate Accountability International initiative that requested Gov. James Douglas cut a $47,000 state contract with bottled water corporation Crystal Rock/Vermont Pure.

 
When asked whether the students had considered that jobs could be lost in the local water plant, one responded with the following.

 
"Maybe it would cost some jobs, but it's keeping more money local," said Dani Hersam, a senior.

Mayor Hooper explained the water issue is one affecting the Northeast.

 
"In fact, having access to water is going to be a larger issue over time," she said, adding that by using local water, the state would help Montpelier taxpayers.

 
Watson said the students were inspired because of the health and environmental risks of plastic bottles, but the problem is also about limited resources.

 
"Does some private corporation have the right to take water out of the stream?" She asked the gathering hypothetically. "It really is affecting people downstream."

 
About the results of the mayor's taste test, Watson said, "It's more likely that she would not pick it. People have a one in three chance of picking municipal water."