Why is HOTLIPS Bottling Bull Run Water?
May, 2008
Ingredients:
100% Bull Run water
102 square miles of pristine National Forrest Land on the western slopes of Mt. Hood, OR, make up the Bull Run watershed.
HOTLIPS is bottling local water from the Bull Run watershed on the western slopes of Mt. Hood because, frankly, it is the best water in the world.
And HOTLIPS is bottling in glass because glass is extremely recyclable and this glass in particular is made right here in Portland from a very high percent of recycled glass to begin with.
The amount of bottled water that is sold worldwide is phenomenal, and most of that water is packaged in plastic. Plastic that leaches into the water you drink. Plastic that is nearly impossible to recycle. Plastic that is filling the landfills and littering the land.
We ask: why buy water from France? Or California? That water is packaged, put on ships and trucks, further polluting and exhausting our world.
Millions of people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water, meanwhile water resources are being bought up by large international corporations and privatized.
Please note that there is no barcode on our water bottles. Water is a birthright and should not be commodified. Net profits from the sale of this water will be donated to drinking water advocacy.
Why is HOTLIPS bottling Bull Run water NOW?
Because May 4 – 10, 2008 is National Drinking Water Week. The theme for the week is “only tap water delivers.”
(Note: We’ve sold out of these bottles, thanks for your support!)
More Information
Portland’s Water Supply: Bull Run Watershed
“The Bull Run watershed, within the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit, is a surface water supply located in the Mt. Hood National Forest. A geological ridge separates the watershed from Mt. Hood. Current regulations allow Portland to meet federal drinking water standards without filtering this high quality water supply. The watershed has an area of 102 square miles, and typically receives 80-170 inches of rainfall a year. The heaviest rains occur from late fall through spring. Two reservoirs store water for use year-round, particularly during the dry summer months. The watershed is reserved solely for producing drinking water. Federal laws restrict human entry. No recreational, residential, or industrial uses occur within its boundaries. The Portland Water Bureau has completed a Source Water Assessment for the Bull Run water supply to comply with the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act amendments. The only known contaminants of concern for the Bull Run water supply are naturally occurring microbial contaminants such as Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium, fecal coliform bacteria, and total coliform bacteria. These organisms are found in virtually all freshwater ecosystems and are present in the Bull Run supply at very low levels. Portland actively protects its drinking water wells and manages programs to prevent groundwater pollution.”
— Portland Water Bureau Drinking Water Report from June 2007
Portland’s Water Storage
“The reservoirs in Mount Tabor and Washington Parks were constructed in 1894 as receptacles for Bull Run watershed mountain drinking water. The Bull Run area was one of the first federally protected regions in the country. This water was delivered solely by gravity to the reservoirs that were designed to also work with gravity. The creation of this first municipal service heralded Portland’s place as a major West Coast city and allowed for rapid growth to occur. The system was modeled after earlier systems in Boston and New York. The reservoirs achieved the goal of the City Beautiful movement’s precepts of their era: to embody beauty with utility, providing grand interfaces between high quality mountain water with the citizens it served. The reservoirs, still provide some of the best water in the nation and the quality of their craftsmanship and design stand as a testimony to the potential of civic vision coupled with good engineering.”