Thirst for change

California’s largest tourist attractions are trying harder to be green, and a 2004 law that requires large venues to reduce and recycle solid waste has helped. But let’s face it, the amount of bottled water consumed at our amusement parks, sports facilities, movie theaters and other attractions is an environmental Tunnel of Terror.

Bottled water would leave a heavy carbon footprint even if, miraculously, every single polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle were recycled. In 2006, the process of manufacturing 25.5 million water bottles in the United States produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, consumed about three liters of water for every liter bottled and ran through 17 million barrels of oil. And that doesn’t include the fossil fuels required to transport the bottled water to consumers, to ship the empty bottles overseas (50% of the PET No. 1 bottles recycled in San Diego, for example, are sold and exported) or the energy used in China, India and Taiwan to turn the plastic into other products.

It would be possible to amend California’s recycling law to ban sales of bottled water and require more drinking fountains instead. But we propose a modest, market-based solution likely to be more popular with consumers and producers. After all, revelers in the hot California sun like the taste, temperature and convenience (if not the cost) of the icy water sold on site. Virtuous campaigns to get consumers to stop buying the stuff, such as “Take Back the Tap,” haven’t dented soaring sales -- at least not yet. And bottlers and vendors would surely fight hard to preserve their water profits.

Far better if the beverage industry would instead design vending machines that take municipal tap water and dispense it -- for a fee -- as cold, filtered water (still, sparkling, vitamin-spiked, whatever). The machines should dispense into refillable bottles made of long-lasting stainless steel -- not PET or the polycarbonate bottles that can leach harmful chemicals. Water machines (heck, build them in the shape of Shamu or Lego blocks) could be a profit center for Anheuser-Busch, which is already in the amusement park and beverage businesses, owns Sea World and prides itself on its environmental record. Venue owners would still make a bundle from sales of water and stainless steel souvenir containers, while avoiding onerous regulation, burnishing their green credentials and educating their millions of thirsty customers.