Boycott bottled water to save earth, urges Filipino bishop

Boycott bottled water to save earth, urges Filipino bishop
ENI-09-0597
By Maurice Malanes

Baguio City, Philippines, 28 July (ENI)--As a boy, Carlito Cenzon drank water straight from springs so he knew what it meant to feel connected with the planet.

Now, as the Roman Catholic bishop of Baguio in northern Philippines, Cenzon laments, "People have lost their interconnectedness with Mother Earth ever since bottled water became another well-advertised commercial consumer item." He was speaking at a 28 July forum in Baguio.

Cenzon recalled how, as a boy, he and his playmates would wander in the mountains without having to bring any packed lunch or water because, "we could always drink from springs and eat wild berries and other wild fruits".

The forum was to tackle ways in which citizens could get involved in protecting this city of 400 000 people from environmental decay. Asked what citizens could do to help their city, Cenzon, aged 70, said, "We can do simple, practical things like boycotting bottled water."

He cited studies saying bottling water leads to unnecessary use of plastics, as well as fuel for transport, which ultimately contribute to climate change.

A report published by the Department of Environment and Climate Change of the state of New South Wales, stated that in 2006, consumption of 250 million litres of bottled water by Australians was responsible for releasing 60 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, blamed for global warming.

Cenzon said an expert analysed the tap water at a centre from by the Catholic Church in Baguio and said it was cleaner and had more minerals than bottled water.

But in this city where leaking, poorly maintained pipes sometimes contaminate tap water, Cenzon said that citizens must be vigilant in asserting their right to clean and safe water.

"We must demand from our officials that providing us safe water must be part of good governance," said the bishop. But just to be sure, Cenzon said he invested on a portable filtration equipment to filter tap water "so I don't need to buy bottled water".

The bishop's bottled-water boycott drive supplements other similar initiatives elsewhere. In early July, Agence France-Presse reported that the Australian town of Bundanoon was set to ban bottled water over concerns about its environmental impact.

In Geneva, the Ecumenical Water Network, an international network of church-linked agencies campaigning on water, urges people to avoid bottled water wherever possible.

An environmentalist, Bishop Cenzon has also helped lead a drive to rehabilitate and reforest threatened watersheds in this city 250 kilometres (150 miles) north of Manila, whose water demand increases to more than 100 000 cubic metres a day during the tourist season from December to May.