In the weeks since the Government of the Student Body voted to phase out the sale of bottled water on campus, university and student administrators have been discussing whether it is in the best interests of the university to do so. The GSB vote was close, and both parties continue to raise concerns about losing revenue from bottled water sales, the “inconvenience” students may face by having to carry a reusable bottle and other potential issues.

But all of these concerns must be balanced by the damage bottled water does during its long journey to our campus, and the potentially longer one it has yet to make. A bottle of water begins as petroleum, which is processed into polyethylene terephthalate — aka PET or #1 plastic. This plastic is shaped into flat bottles, shipped to bottling factories and stretched into its familiar three-dimensional shape using about twice as much water as it takes to fill each bottle before it is filled with the water we drink.

That water does not have to come from a spring or even be filtered. In fact, most bottled water companies will not disclose what chemicals might be present in their water. What’s more, this water sits in the plastic bottle as it is shipped and sits on shelves, all the while accumulating chemicals from the plastic. These include the infamous BET, a known endocrine disrupter used to soften the bottles, and antimony, an element associated with depression that catalyzes the transformation of petroleum into PET.

When the bottled water and all of these chemicals enter our bodies, its story is far from over. In many towns, and in the dorms here at Iowa State, mindful individuals can recycle the bottles from bottled water. Unfortunately, many areas lack deposits or recycling programs for bottled water, and most bottles end up in the trash. Flammable trash like plastic bottles gets burned in Ames’s coal-fired power plant, releasing hazardous chemicals such as dioxins into the air along with greenhouse gases. The energy produced from burning bottles pales in comparison to the energy that it took to create it and get it to the power plant.

That we pay for bottled water in Ames is a great irony, for we have some of the best tap water in the nation, and it costs less than 0.05 percent as much as bottled water. Considering that bottled water costs more than gasoline, that’s a lot of money. What’s more, more than 90 colleges and universities have restricted or eliminated the sale of bottled water, so those savings are definitely attainable. By making the switch to tap water, our campus will become a role model for sustainability, all the while saving students money and protecting the health of the campus community.

So bottled water may seem refreshing and convenient, but it is also bad for our bodies and our environment — not to mention expensive. When we drink tap, we pay next to nothing, because making clean, healthy water is cheap; it’s putting it in a petroleum-based bottle that’s expensive. When we buy bottled water, we are paying for plastic. The choice is clear.