According to a recent story in The Seattle Times, it looks like the city of Seattle will be following San Fransisco’s lead by no longer purchasing any bottled water for city employees.
Now, of course the city cannot stop employees from bringing their own bottled water, but why would they need to, Seattle has one of the best municipal water supplies in the country. Not only that, but at a fraction of a penny for each gallon of city tap water, it is a steal compared to $8 per gallon of store bought bottled water. Officials believe that the city will save over $58,000 per year by no longer buying bottled water.
In my opinion this is a great step and I hope all American cities will begin doing this. I have always said that tap water is just fine and if you live somewhere where are worried about your tap water, then buy a good water filtration system and be done with it. A one time investment in a good water filter will cost less than continually buying bottled water on a weekly basis. Not only that, but as pointed out in the executive order signed by Mayor Nickels of Seattle, over 17 million barrels of oil are used to create plastic bottles for U.S. bottled water consumers. That is not to mention the energy used to bottle, package and ship these awful things across the U.S. and the fact that only one in every ten bottles are even recycled.