Persuasive Speech On Bottled Water

Good afternoon, board members of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. I am the deputy commissioner of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). I would like to use this time to share the benefits of installing water fountains and filling station over the use of dispensing bottled water for public consumption, as well as to dispel the myth of bottled water. My hopes is that by the end, you will all be informed of the cleanliness of our city’s water.

It goes without saying that the safety and quality of the water that you drink is directly linked to the source of that water. In the case of city water, it is standard procedure to filter and treat with chlorine or other disinfectants to eliminate harmful microorganisms and aid in ensuring a safe water supply. This standard is no different here in New York City. As a matter of fact, our city is one of only five large cities in the country with a surface drinking water supply of such high quality that filtration is not required as a form of treatment. As an added benefit, water from a municipal source also contains fluoride, a mineral important in maintaining dental health and reducing tooth
We live in a city with an exceptional track record of quality drinking water. Since the early 1990’s, NYC has been granted a Filtration Avoidance Determination (FAD) certification. In order for drinking water to remain unfiltered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that the water source meet stringent requirements each year. For example, the system must implement a program that can reduce microbial contamination of the water and control local activities in the vicinities of the water source to ensure the protection of the watershed. To enforce these measures, city authorities conduct hundreds of daily tests on drinking water throughout the city, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of tests conducted annually in the