another article - KMBC Kansas City
Restaurants To Stop Using Bottled Water
POSTED: 5:46 pm CDT April 9, 2008
ST. LOUIS -- Care for some water, fresh from the tap?
While sales of bottled water are booming in the United States, a handful of St. Louis restaurants on Wednesday
joined the growing campaign nationwide to stop selling bottled water, instead serving customers the city's finest municipal drink -- tap water.
And St. Louis' government plans to stop buying bottled water later this year, asking employees instead to drink from the city supply -- borrowing a page from San Francisco and other American cities which have started similar practices. More and more large cities, like St. Louis and Atlanta, are adopting the “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign. Yet, smaller cities have yet to test the idea.
At a news conference at the Schlafly Tap Room brewpub in St. Louis, activists, restaurateurs and a city representative outlined the problems they see with the nation's bottled water consumption. They say less use of it will cut consumers' costs, reduce environmental waste and show a commitment to the public water supply.
"It's a lot easier to use something that's coming from across your kitchen instead of across the country," said Tim Embree, environmental aide to
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. And, he pointed out, "We have the country's best tasting water." The U.S. Conference of Mayors decided last year that St. Louis had the best-tasting city water in a competition among more than 90 communities.
There's no question Americans love their bottled water, with about 29 gallons consumed per capita in 2007. Bottled water sold about $12 billion wholesale in the United States last year, up nearly 8 percent from the year before, according to the International Bottled Water Association, based in Alexandria, Va.
"It's unfortunate that some people are turning this into a bottled water versus tap water issue," said Joe Doss, president and CEO of the trade association.
He said bottled water companies view soda, juices and teas as their competitors in many cases, and he said the trade association doesn't disparage tap water.
"Bottled water is a safe, healthy, convenient beverage. Any actions, such as these, that would stop consumers from drinking a healthy beverage are not in the public interest," Doss said.
He said companies have been using lighter-weight plastic for containers, reducing the amount used to make the bottles, and pointed out plastic water bottles are recyclable.
Corporate Accountability International, a Boston-based nonprofit group that is spearheading the "Think Outside the Bottle Campaign," said up to 40 percent of bottled water in the United States and Canada is sourced from public tap water. However, Doss said purified bottled water is not just tap water, but undergoes additional processes before it is sold to consumers.
Deborah Lapidus, national organizer of the "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign, questioned why businesses are additionally processing quality tap water. "They're using energy to process already clean water," she said. And she said, some bottled waters are shipped thousands of miles, using up more energy.
"It's a product we essentially don't need because we have reliable drinking water coming out of our taps," Lapidus said. Drinking bottled water isn't a particularly difficult practice to change. "Take a glass, go to the tap, or use a refillable water bottle," she said.
Corporate Accountability International said about 22,000 people, including 1,000 in St. Louis, have pledged to opt for tap over bottled water. The group said it knows of about 30 cities, as well as about 30 restaurants that have taken action to cut or curb bottled water spending.
Last year, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom banned city-funded purchases of bottled water and New York City launched a campaign called "Get Your Fill" to promote the benefits of tap water.
More:
http://www.kmbc.com/news/
In my original posts I posted full article - changed to partial with links... sorry about that. 
