News
Take back the tap resolution passes
By Ben Katz ’20
September 29, 2016
On Sept. 19, Student Assembly passed their first non-budget related resolution of the year. The resolution was formally entitled “Recommending measures to reduce bottled water use at Hamilton College,” but was known colloquially as “Take Back theTap.”
In sum, the point of the resolution was to lower the amount of bottled water that Hamilton consumes. The resolution garnered support last year, when the Hamilton Environmental Action Group (HEAG) circulated a petition for the partial ban of plastic non-reusable water bottles that got 418 signatures.
Jack Martin, the Class of 2019 Presi- dent, introduced the resolution. Jack noted that the resolution was initially “written by Jack Wright, HEAG’s President, in a single day over the summer. From there, we made revisions and discussed how to best present it to the Central Council at the beginning of the Fall semester.”
The preamble makes note of the fact that“HamiltonCollegepurchasedmorethan 41,100singleusewaterbottlesfromBonAp- pétit last year alone,” and that “U.S. plastic water bottle production required between 32 and 54 million gallons of oil, and three out of every four of those bottles ended up in landfills or in an incinerator.”
Based on this substantial evidence, the resolution called Hamilton to reduce the “consumption of non emergency related single serving bottles of water to 4,000 bottles by 2020,” and to “encourage the use of refillable containers at Hamilton College facilities and functions.”
The resolution also called for Hamiltonto “support efforts to educate the campus community regarding the value and benefits of using Mohawk Valley Water Authority for all its water needs.” Previously, Student Assembly had agreed to not supply fund- ing to any student organization which re- quests single use plastic water bottles, and the resolution called for the continuation of this procedure.
While the resolution was passed unani- mouslybythe21votingmembersoftheCen- tral Council who were present at the meeting, some concerns were raised over the course of the debate of the resolution, both during the resolution’s previous introductions, and during the period before the final vote.
One concern that was reiterated several timeswasthatatlargescaleeventsoncampus, such as Class and Charter day, and at gradu- ation, plastic water bottles were necessary to maintain a safe environment. While at Class and Charter day last year the administration deployed a “water monster,” that could be used to refill water bottles and which dis- couraged the use plastic water bottles, there were concerns that without the purchase of a second “water monster” there would not be an adequate supply of water.
Council members also voiced concern that plastic water bottles would just be re- placed by other plastic vehicles for drinking, such as cups, and that the elimination of one problemwouldjustbringaboutanotherprob- lem. Martin noted, though, that he thought this debate, and some amendments that were added, did not weaken the resolution. “I be- lieve the amendments, in fact, strengthened the resolution.