Time to ditch bottled water and maximize HK's clean supply

Updated: 2015-07-07 07:20

By Alan Sargent(HK Edition)

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Everyone needs water - and in a tropical climate, as temperatures remain above 30 C for weeks, we need it even more. In Hong Kong we have the privilege, unlike half the world, of having safe and clean water supplied by the government at negligible cost. Yet outside your home, it is pretty much impossible to get a mouthful of water not in a plastic bottle. Sweaty joggers and office workers alike all top up with bottled water.

My last quarterly water bill, for a household of three people and one cat, came to HK$104. That is about 28 cents per person per day, for bathroom, cooking, laundry and the smallest part, drinking. (I left the cat out of this calculation, though she does drink and occasionally bathes.) Buy a couple of bottles of imported water a day and you will pay 100 times that per litre of water. That won't break anyone's budget, but the costs go further.

Over 150 tonnes of plastic bottles end up in our landfills every day. None of this is biodegradable, so the bottles will slowly break down into toxic sludge over centuries. Others end up thrown in the countryside, some end up in drains and waterways and countless more in the sea. From there a few wash back up on our beaches, others break up and choke birds, turtles and fish, and the rest float out to join the continent-sized Great Pacific Garbage Patch, poisoning the ocean.

But let us forget the environmental and monetary cost. How does it affect you personally? Bottled water is pretty safe to drink; breathing the air here is a bigger risk. But no matter how inert the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle is, after a few weeks or months (look at the date stamps) a tiny amount will leach into the water. This amount increases if the water is distilled, as demineralised water is a much stronger solvent than water with natural minerals. And it has the same effect in your body if you drink distilled water exclusively: The World Health Organization found adverse health effects from extremely low levels of ions and salts in drinking water, in particular dilution of the electrolytes and loss of calcium and magnesium.

So what is the alternative? In the home or office, drink tap water. Many react with horror at the idea, but if you look at the facts rather than the myths it is simply the best option - for health, for your pocketbook and for the environment. There is a risk in everything; unless you live beside a pristine alpine stream you have to trust a water supplier, whether tap or bottle. Hidden away on the website of the Water Supplies Department (WSD) is a statement that "the water supplied ... conforms to the Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality recommended by the World Health Organization and is stringently monitored through extensive sampling". The only problem might be the last section of pipe in your building. Before 1995, unlined galvanized pipes might have been used. They are subject to rust which, though non-toxic, is not pleasant. But just running the water will probably clear it. The WSD advises against domestic water filters, saying they may be a breeding ground for bacteria if not properly maintained.

So if we can get over the feeling of uncouthness, we can fill up a cup at the kitchen tap, or let it chill in a jug in the fridge. Take a bottle from home to see you through the day. When I was cycling in the heat I would put a damp sock over my water bottle to keep it cool, though that might not be advisable if you are on your way to an office. You can find insulated canteens at a camping goods store.

You should not need to equip yourself as though for a Saharan trek when going shopping, considering our city has a network of water pipes to every building. But unless you are uninhibited enough to scoop up a handful from the tap in a toilet hand basin, you can feel like the Ancient Mariner in the famous poem by Coleridge: "Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink" (unless you pay). If there are any drinking fountains in the urban areas of Hong Kong, I've yet to come across one. I lived for 10 years in Melbourne, a city where summer brings heat of over 40 C. In its central business district are over 100 drinking fountains along the streets or in parks. Some of these are well over a century old, very ornate, made of marble or ironwork. Others are simple steel bubblers. Quite a few were put up by temperance societies early last century (though they never made much headway on cutting alcohol consumption). More recently, with concern over plastic bottle pollution, the Melbourne water authority has been promoting their use and installing more.

To reduce plastic waste and pollution, some towns have banned the sale of bottled water completely. But in Hong Kong, our WSD and government in general is modest to a fault about the water that we should be proud to drink; sitting-out areas and parks around the city may have a toilet, but only very few drinking fountains. And plastic bottles continue to pile up. It is about time the government launched a vigorous campaign to promote drinking tap water for its multiple benefits at practically no cost.

The author works as a book editor and designer in Hong Kong's English publishing industry. He is also a freelance writer.

(HK Edition 07/07/2015 page9)