Home
Working for climate justice on the UO campus

Bottled Water Petition


Tap water is a better choice than bottled water.  In supporting tap water, I am supporting:

  • Sustainable living – bottled water wastes 2,000 times as much energy as tap water, and 85% of bottles are not recycled.
  • Saving student money – bottled water costs more than gasoline; at $2 for a 20oz. bottle, it costs more than $12 a gallon.
  • Saving energy – a 20oz. bottle of water requires about 1/3 its volume in oil for manufacture, transportation, and disposal.
  • Cleaner water – tap water is rigorously regulated by the EPA and held to a much higher standard than bottled water.
  • Good health – Disposable plastic bottles leech harmful, carcinogenic chemicals into water.


Because tap water is a better choice than the bottled brands – for our health, our environment, and our wallets – I am asking the ASUO (student government) not to use my student fees to fund bottled water.

The University of Oregon must live up to its reputation as an institution committed to sustainable living.  We want long-term solutions for our growing water problems. If reinvesting in America’s water systems is going to become a national priority, it has to start somewhere.  We want to start at home, on our campus.