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National Drinking Water Week Public Health Protection In a world where an estimated three million people die every year from preventable waterborne diseases, people in Johnson County and throughout North American can drink from virtually any public tap with a high assurance of safety. Without our modern water systems, diseases such as cholera and dysentery would be a tragic part of our everyday life. WaterOne continues to meet or exceed all standards for safe drinking water. Fire Protection In the United States alone, over 1.5 million fires happen each year. While most of us never think about fires until they occur, there is a vast network of water infrastructure in place to protect us when they do. In Johnson County, water flowing to fire hydrants and home faucets is transported by the same system of water mains, pumps and storage tanks. Simply put, WaterOne’s system provides reliable water at a high pressure and volume can be the difference between a manageable fire and an inferno. Support for the Economy Though often taken for granted, tap water is critical to the daily operations of existing businesses and to the vitality of new commercial enterprises and residential developments in a host of important ways. From foods and beverages, to toothpastes and perfumes, water is the primary ingredient in hundreds of thousands of every day products. Therefore, the availability of water resources and service has a profound effect on job creation and overall economic prosperity.
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WaterOne Going Green by Going
‘Bottle-Less’ Because of growing awareness of the environmental impacts associated with manufacturing, transporting, and disposing of plastic bottles, WaterOne has made a decision to go ‘bottle-less’ and will no longer be providing bottle water. Instead, the utility is encouraging the public to switch to reusable containers filled with tap water. Research shows that each year Americans buy about 28 billion water bottles and 80% of those bottles end up in landfills. Only 20% actually get recycled. Approximately 1.5 million gallons of oil –enough to run 100, 000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles each year, and transporting the bottles burns thousands more gallons of oil. Just to manufacture each plastic bottle, 3 times more water is used than is actually in the filled bottle. By discouraging the use of bottled water and encouraging more sustainable practices, WaterOne is taking an active role in helping our community reduce its carbon footprint. Chicago recently became the first major U.S. city to put a 5-cent tax on bottled water to encourage recycling and discourage consumption, and many cities are debating similar measures. Recognizing that the use of bottled water will not be discontinued entirely, we do encourage any users of bottled water to recycle to cut down on litter and landfill waste. Check out article in the KC Star about this subject.
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