Mayor Coody to Co-Chair Water Council

As co chair of the US Conference of Mayors Water Council, Mayor Dan Coody will help chair and moderate a meeting with a select group of mayors on the importance of municipal water. 

According to Coody, the fact that Fayetteville plays a significant leadership role in the discussion is telling.  "Without a doubt, Fayetteville has been elevated to the national scene on environmental issues.  There are few cities of our size that have been able to establish themselves as serious participants in the race toward a sustainable future as it relates to water quality, energy consumption, and improved quality of life."

The purpose of the meeting is to follow-up on Resolution 90 adopted at the 2007 US Conference of Mayors Annual Conference.  In that resolution, mayors resolved to compile information on the importance of municipal water and the impact of bottled water on municipal waste streams.

Coody will moderate a discussion on the public benefits of local investment in water.  Fayetteville has a long history of working to protect water quality and puts a high priority on water related issues.  Coody emphasized the City’s efforts to protect water quality. "Protecting our local natural resources is a way of life for most of us in Fayetteville, and it is just part of the way we do business at the city.  From the massive investment our citizens have made in the wastewater improvement project, to our stormwater management, to our participation in local watershed management efforts for Beaver Lake and the Illinois River, the City of Fayetteville shows great leadership on this front, and we’ve been recognized regionally and nationally for that."

According to some of the data that will be presented at the meeting, US consumers spend $11 billion per year on bottled water; bottled water costs anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 times more that tap water; and approximately 25% of bottled water comes from municipal tap water sources.

The impact of bottles on the waste stream has received a great deal of attention recently as individuals and communities begin to realize the expenses of bottled water including transportation costs and the associated carbon emissions, the sheer volume of waste form bottles going into our nation’s landfills, and the amount of energy used to produce plastic bottles estimated at 1.5 million barrels of oil per year.

The Mayors Water Council meeting will take place in New York City on May 1, 2008, and Coody’s trip is sponsored by the US Conference of Mayors. Coody has served on the US Conference of Mayors Water Council for three years, and co-chairs that committee with Martin J. Chavez, Mayor of the City of Albuquerque, NM.