Posted on 02/07/2012 5:54:01 AM PST by SJackson
(Grand Canyon, AZ) - Grand Canyon National Park will eliminate the in-park sale of water packaged in individual disposable containers within 30 days under a plan approved Monday by National Park Service (NPS) Intermountain Regional (IMR) Director John Wessels. Free water stations are available throughout the park to allow visitors to fill reusable water bottles.
The park’s plan calls for the elimination of the sale of water packaged in individual disposable containers of less than one gallon, including plastic bottles and various types of boxes. The waste associated with disposable bottles comprises an estimated 20 percent of the park’s overall waste stream and 30 percent of the park’s recyclables.
Grand Canyon National Park’s plan was submitted and approved in accordance with the policy issued by NPS Director Jonathan B. Jarvis on December 14, 2011. Under the policy, parks are directed to implement a disposable plastic water bottle recycling and reduction policy, with an option to eliminate in-park sales – with the approval of the park’s regional director – following a thorough analysis of a variety of factors ranging from the cost to install water filling stations, to the cost and availability of BPA-free reusable containers, to potential effects on public safety.
Regional Director Wessels said, “Our parks should set the standard for resource protection and sustainability. Grand Canyon National Park has provided an excellent analysis of the impacts the elimination of bottled water would have, and has developed a well-thought-out plan for ensuring that the safety, needs and comfort of visitors continue to be met in the park," he said. "I feel confident that the impacts to park concessioners and partners have been given fair consideration and that this plan can be implemented with minimal impacts to the visiting public," Wessels added.
Grand Canyon National Park has experienced increasing amounts of litter associated with disposable plastic bottles along trails both on the rim and within the inner canyon, marring canyon viewpoints and visitor experiences.
“We want to minimize both the monetary and environmental costs associated with water packaged in disposable containers,” said Grand Canyon Superintendent Dave Uberuaga. “We are grateful to the Director for recognizing the need for service-wide guidance on this issue and for providing a thoughtful range of options.”
“A lot of careful thought went into this plan and its implementation,” said Director Jarvis. “I applaud Grand Canyon National Park for its efforts to reduce waste and the environmental impacts created by individually packaged water. This is another example of The National Park Service’s commitment to being an exemplar of the ways we can all reduce our imprint on the land as we embrace sustainable practices that will protect the parks for generations to come.”
Read more: KCSG Television - Grand Canyon National Park to Eliminate Sale of Water in Disposable Containers
“We need a term which captures the essence of “right-wing environmentalism” without invoking watermelons.”
They used to be called “Men”
Life’s tough. It’s tougher if you’re stupid.
Making the effort to visit the Grand Canyon in summer without making the effort to take water is stupid.
At least by selling Nalgene bottles there will be less trash left out there, and what the stupids do leave out there will be reusable by others. 1 expensive bottle found and reused is better than 12 chincy bottles not worth recycling (much less reused by finder).
Sometimes PC and Conservative do sorta line up. Neither think it’s sensible to facilitate idiots littering.
That’s why our subways in NYC are crawling with rats.
People who eat & drink on trains & buses should CARRY OUT THEIR TRASH.
Yep, have plenty of free running water and maybe sell or rent with a higher deposit more permanent containers.
This is the grand canyon, isn’t that basically a desert in many areas with limited amounts of surface water?
I see this as part of the left's war on bottled water, and largely not relevant to the stated issues as to why they are issuing a ban.
I see this as part of the left's war on bottled water. And I don't use bottled water. I just think there are better, more practical options than an outright ban.
Did the EPA outlaw the manufacturing of “Canteens”?
SJ please add me
Good question. No indication they will, but none they won’t either. Replace vending machines with BYOB[ottle] soda fountains?
In my experience, libby tree-huggers are the problem.
Next, the Luddites-N-Green will mandate we drink only from local springs.
And then only according to the rites of the Indigenous Peoples.
OK, you're Joe Suburbanite. You want to buy four one-liter bottles for you, your wife and your kids. Normally would cost you six to eight bucks or so.
Instead, you are looking at 32 bucks for four Nalgene bottles at eight bucks each. You say screw that, you ain't paying that much for water, let's hit the trail without it. And one of the kids ends up dehydrated, collapses, and the rangers have to haul him out.
There are better solutions. Put a fifty-cent stamped deposit on bottles sold in the park, and people will pack out such bottles for the deposit refund if they find them by the trail.
I smell left-wing activism against bottled water here. There are better solutions to address the stated problems.
There’s a difference between a ban and just not facilitating the activity. Not selling cheap bottles easily tossed as litter by those not smart enough to at least bring their own may not solve the problem, but it reduces facilitation of it.
I remember the Earth Day celebration on the Washington Mall...it took two days to pick up all of the trash they left behind.
Last summer I took the family hiking up the Boulder flat irons, Rocky Mt. Nat. Pk., Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and many spots along the way. We carried canteens (gallon jugs in the car), but I could count the number of expended water bottles that we saw on one hand. Those appeared to be accidental drops over developed overviews.
Can’t say I saw a trash problem. As for cutting down on the amount of trash to carry out of parks, I’m thinking water containers should be at the bottom of the list. People need to hydrate.
I do think this will result in a fair amount of dehydration, as people who visit the parks are VISITORS, and don’t know how much water they need in dry, high elevations.
They should at least offer affordable canteen rigs if that is what they want to push.
“That’s why our subways in NYC are crawling with rats.
People who eat & drink on trains & buses should CARRY OUT THEIR TRASH.”
Trash on two feet does not like to carry out their own trash.
Same for trash in a uniform.
It is the same people that I witness on a regular basis that stand at a postcard view of the ocean then flick their cigarette into the oncoming wave. Or they drive some type of hybrid with an "Earth First' sticker and flick their cigarette right out the window.
Yeah, read this and tell me this ain't based on liberal eco-nut viewpoints instead of an effort to find a practical way to deal with any actual underlying problem from trailside litter:
“A lot of careful thought went into this plan and its implementation,” said Director Jarvis. “I applaud Grand Canyon National Park for its efforts to reduce waste and the environmental impacts created by individually packaged water. This is another example of The National Park Service’s commitment to being an exemplar of the ways we can all reduce our imprint on the land as we embrace sustainable practices that will protect the parks for generations to come.”
Good.
I hate throwaway plastic water bottles. They are the biggest marketing “scam” (for lack of a better word) of my lifetime. Huge companies selling bottled NJ tap water at a 3000% markup to idiots. I’ll never understand it.
I love when people complain about $3.80 gas - extracted from the earth from thousands of miles away using high technology, transported, refined, transported and taxed - while sipping a $1.89 pint of tap water. do the math what that tap water - which is close to free in most of our country - costs per gallon.
If idiots don’t bring water/containers and decide to set off on a hike (how many tourists actually hike at the Grand Canyon anyway? 4% tops?) then screw ‘em.
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