Van Buren Township program provides free water bottles for residents
The Van Buren Township Water and Sewer Department is giving away refillable water bottles to residents.
The give away is part of the department Tap the Tap: Rethink Your Drink program and is aimed at celebrating healthy tap water.
“Municipal tap water is constantly tested to maintain safety and quality standards,” said Water & Sewer Director James T. Taylor. “With all these standards in place, many residents have stated Van Buren Townships tap water tastes great and smells odorless.”
Van Buren Township tap water is routinely tested and an annual water quality report is sent to residents during the summer months in the Van Buren Today magazine,” he added.
Township officials cited the environmental impact of plastic water bottles and cited statistics noting that more than 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills and incinerators every day, with a total of about 22 billion a year. In an effort to reduce water bottle waste, officials said, they were asking residents to Tap the Tap: Rethink Your Drink and help protect the earth. Despite the predominant belief that most of the plastic packaging can be recycled, 80 percent of the packaging is non-recyclable, they said.
To jump start the Tap the Tap: Rethink Your Drink program the Water & Sewer Department has installed two water bottle filling stations in township hall. One is located in the west wing between the supervisor and treasurer's offices and the other is outside the recreation multipurpose room in the parks and recreation department. These stations have a Green Ticker which tracks the number of plastic bottles saved from waste stations.
“We invite you all to stop by township hall to fill up your water bottles in the new fountains,” said Public Services Director Matt Best.
With the Tap the Tap: Rethink Your Drink program residents can receive a free 32-ounce refillable water bottle by taking a quick 1-minute survey about the township water supply. Once completed, the free water bottles, first come first served, will be available at township hall from 7:30 a.m until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. There is a limited supply of refillable bottles, so officials urged residents to complete the survey as soon as possible at vanburen-mi.org/tapthetap.
For more information, call (734) 699-8925 or email publicservices@vanburen-mi.org.
