Bundanoon has taken up the exciting community initiative of becoming Australia's First Bottled Water Free Town.

This article explains what that all means.

Who is Bundanoon?

Bundanoon is a country village of approximately 2,500 people, with a strong sense of community. There are well over 65 businesses in Bundanoon, 50 of which have commercial premises, ranging from a butcher to several nurseries, from health retreats to cafes and restaurants. From service stations to bicycle hire. Ten of these businesses have offered bottled water for sale.

Bundanoon has retained its village atmosphere with a streetscape that reflects its heritage as a bustling resources centre (timber, stone and coal) and tourist location in the early part of last century. These days the town plays host to Australia's largest Scottish gathering with the annual Brigadoon festival. It also attracts over 1,500 mountain bike enthusiasts for the Highland Fling bike races. As well as seasonal events like the Garden Ramble and Winterfest. Tourism is the mainstay of the town

Bundanoon takes its name from a term used by the local aborigines to describe the spectacular deep gullies that drop from the sandstone escarpments of the wild Morton National Park, whose boundary gate is just 15 minutes walk from Post Office. The natural beauty of Bundanoon environs continues to attract people a century on from its hey day when 68 guest houses graced the town.

Where is Bundanoon?

Bundanoon is located in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia, roughly half way between the cities of Sydney and Canberra. It is just 15 minutes off the highway that connects the two cities. Immediately to the southeast of the village is NSW’s fourth largest public precinct in Morton National Park. To the north are lush rolling hills of rural countryside. At 672 metres above sea level Bundanoon experiences all four seasons, complete with occasional snow.

What does the Bundanoon community mean by the term "Bottled Water"?

It refers to mass marketed still and flavoured still water offered for commercial sale in sealed ‘single use' plastic bottles. This type of beverage has been targeted because it is already efficiently provided through municipally plumbed drinking water systems. In the Bundanoon context "bottled water" does not refer to ‘sparkling' water, fruit juices, sports drinks, etc.

What's the Big Deal about Bottled Water?

Australia's annual consumption of bottled water is about 540 million litres. To sell this much bottled water the industry uses approximately 1 billion litres of water each year. In environmental terms the production and distribution of this volume of bottled water created more than 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the emissions 13,000 cars generate in one year.

The NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change estimates that 200ml of oil is used to produce, package, transport and refrigerate each litre bottle of bottled water. As a result, at least 50 million litres of oil is used in the manufacture and distribution of bottled water in Australia every year. As a result, bottled water has a higher carbon footprint that is more than 300 times greater per litre than tap water.

A comprehensive American study found the total energy required for bottled water production was as much as 2,000 times the energy cost of producing tapwater. Much of that energy, in the form of plastic created from limited oil reserves, is squandered as up to 65% of single use bottles used for commercial bottled water are not recycled, finding their way into landfill or waterways.

Yet bottled water costs 500 times more that the water readily available from municipally provided taps. In many cases, it is, in fact, the same water. Many millions of litres of bottled water sold in Australia is sourced from municipal water. Nor is bottled water necessarily any more safe. In Australia bacteria, chemical disinfectants and aluminium have been found in bottled water samples. In blind taste tests around the world drinkers cannot accurately identify bottled water from tap water.

In summary, bottled water is an outrageously expensive beverage, that provides no health benefits over tap water, yet it greatly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, precious water resource extraction and creates a huge solid waste problem.

Further notes are available on bottled water information and research sources.

How did this Bottled Water Free Town idea come about?

For some years now the Bundanoon community, through the Don't Bore Bundanoon committee have been actively opposing the application by a non-resident business entity, Norlex, to commercially extract water from a bore within the Bundanoon village precinct. The environmental, social, heritage and financial impacts of this proposed development has brought the myriad issues of bottled water into clearer focus for many townsfolk, not the least being the removal of water from aquifers for commercial gain, during one of Australia's longest droughts.

Local businessman, Huw Kingston arrived at the notion that if the community were against extraction of water for use in commercial bottled water, then perhaps it should step up to the plate, and oppose the end result of such developments - bottled water itself. (Huw had, 17 years previous, developed a positive retail program where a national retailer made a donation to environmental groups when customers declined shopping bags.). In an open letter in the community magazine - Jordan's Crossing Gazette - Huw Kingston proposed that the village could consider becoming Bottle Water Free. Community and media interest was immediate and supportive. A working group quickly formed to investigate how feasible such a proposal might be. In throwing around ideas for a name for the group, the town's affectionate nickname was invoked, and Bundy On Tap (BOT) was established.

In its research the BOT Working Group could not find any other town that had undertaken such an initiative. It did however take inspiration from the small Tasmanian town of Coles Bay that had gone Plastic Bag Free in 2003. It was decided to seek advice from, the Jon Dee, founder of Planet Ark, who had assisted Coles Bay go plastic bag free. Jon Dee, was now heading up the Do Something organisation, which had as one of its projects, the Bottled Water Alliance. Jon generously attended a meeting organised by the BOT working group, and on experiencing the community spirit for the project offered to assist with business and media liaison.

The Bundy On Tap group then set about checking that business owners were on side. They were, and a community meeting was subsequently organised for 8 July 2009.

How will the initiative be implemented on the ground?

• Bundanoon retail businesses that previously sold single-use, bottled still water will no longer stock this product in their drinks fridges.
• With the assistance of Do Something, Street Furniture Australia and Culligan Water are kindly sponsoring 3 filtered water ‘bubblers' or water stations. Two for the town and another for the village primary school.
• Wingecarribee Council have been approached about providing appropriate plumbing of town water to these water stations.
• The water stations will be prominently sign-posted, and will also incorporate taps that can be used for refilling bottles.
• Bundanoon retail stores will make available for sale affordable, reusable, refillable water bottles.
• Bundanoon retail stores are considering the option of installing in-store chilled water filters so customers can access cold water for their reusable, refillable water bottles.
• Signage will be developed to indicate to retail customers where they can obtain refillable water bottles and/or chilled and filtered municipal water.

It is anticipated that most of these endeavours will be realised by October 2009, making Bundanoon Australia's first Bottled Water Free Town.

How do we know the community supports the initiative?

All feedback to members of the Bundy On Tap working group regarding the initiative, has to date, been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. The businesses who will be financially at risk of the action have also indicated their support. However a community meeting has been called for 8 July 2009 to provide an opportunity for village residents to learn more about the project, ask questions and express their views.

How do we know local businesses support the initiative?

In addition to one-on-one discussions with businesses selling still bottled water, an informal meeting of the major business enterprises in town was held 23 June 2009. There were 19 people present, which is thought to be the biggest ever turnout of Bundanoon business in memory. It was overwhelmingly agreed at this meeting that the Bundanoon business community would support the initiative for the village to become Australia's First Bottled Water Free Town. The local newsagency proprietor, Peter Stewart, who attended this meeting, has agreed to represent local businesses as one of the media contacts for Bundy on Tap.

Are there any similar initiatives elsewhere?

The Bundy On Tap working group and Do Something are unaware of any other community in Australia (or for that matter in the world), deciding of its own accord to phase out the sale and distribution of bottled still water.

There have been inspirational initiatives by municipal councils, particularly in Canada and the western United States to ban the sale of bottled water from council events and buildings. In Australia, the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change has banned the sale of bottled water in their offices. A number of Councils across Australia have also banned bottled water in their facilities and at council run events. However, Bundy On Tap has found no other grass-roots, community led effort to effect the same change across a whole town.

Small community environmental actions have been successful in the past. One stand out example is the town of Coles Bay in Tasmania that became Australia's first town to ban disposable plastic shopping bags. An initiative that many other towns have since adopted, both in Australia and internationally. In May 2009 South Australia became the first Australian government to implement a state wide ban on plastic bags.

What other community initiatives is the Bundanoon village involved in?

The Bundanoon community is very proactive in a diverse range of activities which are seen to be of benefit to the village as a whole. The Bundanoon Community Association acts as an umbrella organisation for many of these projects. There is a volunteer group, known as the Green Team, who undertake projects such as weed eradication, foot track maintenance, mowing, planting, mulching, as well as preparing a map of walks in the area. The team's work is supported by proceeds raised from another initiative, the Garden Ramble.

The Bundanoon History Group manages an extensive collection of photographic, written and oral history material. Winterfest is a two week long arts festival. The community also produce and distribute free-of-charge a not-for-profit publication known as the Jordan's Crossing Gazette, (referencing the village's earlier name). There is a vibrant Arts group putting on numerous productions and Bundanoon is recognised as a cycling ‘hub'.

There are many other volunteer community groups in the town, but of relevance from a sustainability aspect are Transition Bundanoon, which seeks to help the village become resilient in the face of challenges like climate change and peak oil. As well as the aforementioned Don't Bore Bundanoon committee, who are actively opposing the push by a non-Bundanoon business, Norlex, to commercially extract water from a bore within the village.

Who are the stakeholders involved?

I have further questions. Who can I contact?