Bottled water loses to tap in taste test
The Stamp Student Union food court was packed with its usual crowd yesterday afternoon, but not everyone was lining up for McDonald’s or Taco Bell.
Instead, dozens of students guzzled cups of water at an SGA-hosted event that tasked students with determining the difference between bottled and tap water. The Student Government Association teamed up with MaryPIRG and Quench to organize Tap That, a campaign intended to educate students about the negative impacts of water bottles on everything from the environment to their wallets.
During the event, students drank out of clear plastic cups containing tap water from the student union’s filter stations and Aquafina bottled water, the university’s official bottled water, to see whether they could taste the difference. In addition, students were encouraged to sign a MaryPIRG petition to kick water bottles off the campus and could enter a raffle to win reusable water bottles provided by Dining Services.
Members of the three organizations used the opportunity to chat with students about the disadvantages of bottled water, noting its negative impact on ecosystems and students’ failure to recycle the empty bottles. Event organizers also targeted students’ pockets, informing them that tap water is substantially cheaper than bottled water and that about 90 percent of the bottled water price goes toward producing the bottle itself.
SGA Director of Sustainability Matthew Popkin said the taste test was an interactive way to inform students about the pitfalls of plastic bottled water and to encourage them to switch to toting reusable water bottles around the campus instead.
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/bottled-water-loses-to-tap-in-taste-test-1.1770525
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