{"id":803,"date":"2020-01-02T21:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T02:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/2019-in-review-part-2\/"},"modified":"2022-12-03T11:37:04","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T16:37:04","slug":"2019-in-review-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/2019-in-review-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 In Review: Tap Gets Its Cool Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2019, humble tap water seemed to suddenly become a rising star.<\/p>\n

Tap\u2019s flooding of the zeitgeist <\/strong>came, in part, from a global outcry against the ever-growing tide of plastic litter filling our parks, streets, rivers, and oceans. As communities everywhere looked to eliminate plastic, places with good public drinking water like Philadelphia realized that few products seem more unnecessary than bottled water.<\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s climate change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beyond reducing the litter we can see in our communities, more and more people are interested in cutting throw-away items like disposable water bottles from their routines because of the carbon footprint that comes with making, distributing and disposing of plastic.<\/p>\n

With clean water pumped to every home, tap water in reusable bottles stands out as a great way to reduce\u00a0the kind of pollution that’s causing global warming.<\/p>\n

Here at the Philadelphia Water Department<\/strong>, we have touted tap as a sustainable option for years, partnering with events like the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta to provide water and encourage refilling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But in 2019, we ramped up our efforts<\/strong> to get more people drinking tap, and put more work into reaching people with concerns that go beyond sustainability. We did this in response to customer surveys showing that about 40 percent<\/strong> of Philadelphia residents<\/a> drink bottled water at home.<\/em><\/p>\n

And, while our top-quality water is an incredible bargain at just about a half a cent per gallon, residents who can least<\/em> afford to spend money on single-use bottles are the most<\/em> likely to do so.<\/p>\n

From trust to uncertainty about quality to taste, there are many reasons people choose bottled water.<\/p>\n

We realized we can do more<\/strong> to bust myths, provide resources about topics like lead pipes<\/a>, link customers with our nationally recognized affordability programs, and inform people of these great facts:<\/p>\n