LONDONERS URGED TO DRINK TAP WATER; Bottled water bad for the earth
February 21, 2008

THERE is no more shame in asking for tap water at a fancy restaurant.



In London, at least.

London mayor Ken Livingstone has asked Londoners to boycott bottled water in favour of cheaper, better-tasting and more environmentally-friendly tap water, reported Reuters.

Bottled water served with meals in London not only costs 500 times more than tap water, it is 300 times more damaging to the environment, he claimed.

Launching his London on Tap blitz yesterday, Mr Livingstone urged Londoners not to be embarrassed in asking for tap.

He said using fewer bottles would help climate change, adding that bottled water left a higher carbon footprint, with some imported brands travelling from as far as New Zealand.

'There is no need to buy the expensive bottled water that has become a bit of a fad in recent years,' he said.

MAY ELECTIONS
His announcement, the latest in a line of green initiatives unveiled in the runup to May elections, was backed by green and consumer groups.

Figures show the bottled water industry, with six million litres drunk every day, is worth about £1.7 billion ($4.7 billion) annually in Britain and accounts for almost one in five UK soft drinks sales.

'There is no health advantage in drinking bottled water instead of water from the tap,' said the chairwoman of the Consumer Council for Water, Ms Yve Buckland.

According to Thames Water, London's water supplier, 70 per cent of people say the price of mineral water in restaurants is too expensive but one in five people are 'slightly nervous' or 'too scared to ask' for tap water, reported the BBC.

In a statement, the British Bottled Water Producers rejected suggestions that bottled water was bad for the environment.

It pointed out that about three-quarters of all bottles sold in the country are manufactured locally and plastic is used for safety and hygienic reasons.

'For people concerned with helping the environment ... buying British-sourced bottled water is a sound and logical choice,' a spokesman said.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/st...56880,00.html?

yea we shld be more aware of whats happenin to Earth =/
They shld imply that in sg too since our water are clean =)

Luckily in Singapore, I can drink from the tap.

yeah.i dont mind drinking from the tap

we can all drink from the tap
no problem man so clean

for me ar.
get from tap and boil it first then drink. =D
never know what is in the pipes.

next time say collect rain water directly n consume it.haha

I drank for a year and found out that bottle water will cause back pain.

Don't drink too much bottle water... drink tap water.

Are you sure? Never heard of it before.

Is it that you are drinking DI water, which has no substances in the water?

Singapore tap water is fine. Always drink that while in camp, especially during a water parade.

yah singapore tap water is fine and PUB said that our water are healthy to drink from the tap, but just that our water pipes had been bury underground for so long, no one knows what maybe happening down the pipes.

I don't mind either, but one of my colleagues was like all about the algae from the pipe and the rust blah blah blah, made me abit scared too.

Singapore tap water is quite safe, and I'm not sure about other countries' tap water.