Take Back the Tap Water Taste Test
Students from Duke's Environmental Alliance kicked off their Take Back the Tap campaign with a taste test in the Plaza on February 2nd. The campaign aims to disprove misconceptions that tap water tastes different or worse than bottled water, study students' opinions of bottled water on campus and raise awareness about environmental and social justice issues surrounding bottled water.
Volunteers from the undergraduate sustainability group challenged passing students and staff to sample the water from two unmarked containers. The participants were then asked to guess which was water from Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and which came straight from Durham's tap water. "It looks like people aren't able to tell the tap water from the bottled water," said volunteer Benjamin Soltoff, observing that only half of the respondents were succesfully identifying the two sources.
Participants also stated which of the two unmarked water sources they preferred, with responses suggesting a majority actually preferred the taste of the tap water. Responses to additional survey questions suggested that many Duke students currently make efforts to avoid purchasing plastic bottled water by carrying reusable bottles or using only water at campus drinking fountains.
More information on: "Take Back the Tap" at Food & Water Watch