“Considering that an equal amount of municipal water costs hundreds, or even thousands of times less than bottled water, it's a very foolish expenditure.”
- Neva Goodwin, co-director of the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University

Top 10 Reasons Why Your City/County Should Opt for Tap Over Bottled Water

1.       TO SAVE TAXPAYER DOLLARS. Cutting spending on bottled water will save money and support local tap water.

2.      TO PREVENT CORPORATE CONTROL. Bottled water undermines support for public water systems and helps pave the way for corporate control of local water resources.

3.      TO CHALLENGE MISLEADING ADVERTISING. Misleading bottled water marketing changes the way people think about water.

4.      TO PROTECT CONSUMERS. Bottled water is, in fact, less regulated than tap water.

5.      TO REALLOCATE OUR PUBLIC RESOURCES AND REGAIN DEMOCRATIC CONTROL. Bottled water is a misallocation of resources. There is a $22 billion annual funding gap between what U.S. cities need to spend on water infrastructure and the money available to them. Public money should be spent on public systems, not on bottled water contracts.

6.      TO STRENGHEN OUR PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS. Bottled water isn’t a long-term, sustainable solution to water quality or scarcity problems; only strong public water systems can insure reliable and equitable access to water into the future.

7.      TO PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT. The extraction of bottled water can take a significant toll on the environment.  

8.      TO LESSEN OUR CITIES’ CARBON FOOTPRINTS. Plastics used to make water bottles create pollution from beginning to end.

• Use of fossil fuels to make bottles contributes to global warming
• Distribution of water hundreds or thousands of miles via trucks, planes and boats unnecessarily contributes to global warming. Public water systems are generally a more energy-efficient way of ensuring people’s access to water.  
• The disposal of plastic water bottles into the waste stream fuels further pollution. Nearly 8 out of 10 of these bottles wind up burnt or tossed into landfills, which pollutes the air, clogs up overflowing landfills sites and contributes to water pollution.

9.     TO PRESERVE LOCAL CONTROL. Water bottlers like Nestlé have a track record of running roughshod over communities’ concerns and damaging the environment when they extract water and build bottling plants to take local spring and groundwater.

10.    IT JUST MAKES SENSE. Alternatives to bottled water like turning on the tap are cheaper and more sustainable.

Overall Goal: Getting Your Mayor to Take the Think Outside The Bottle Pledge

Your Mayor/Local Officials Can Take Action to:

• Cancel all city contracts with water bottlers.
• Audit city spending on bottled water.
• Stop supplying bottled water for city employees.
• Stop putting bottled water in vending machines in city buildings.
• Launch public education effort promoting public tap water
• Increase funding for water infrastructure.
• Commit to increasing the number of well-maintained water fountains in the city.
•  

Steps in Getting Your Mayor Onboard:

1.     Reach Out to Your Mayor

• Send a letter to your mayor and ask for a meeting.

2.     Find Out If Your City Has a Bottled Water Contract

• Call city hall to find out if your city has a contract with a bottled water company, how much money your city spends on bottled water, and who has authority over the contract.

3.     Expose, Educate and Build Support

• Do outreach to community groups – ask them to sign on to a letter to the mayor and to promote the Think Outside the Bottle Pledge.

4.     Get Your Mayor Onboard

• Follow-up the letter with a phone call and ask for a meeting.
• Meet with your mayor.
• Let your mayor know how many people have taken the Think Outside the Bottle Pledge.
• Do media outreach.

5.     Celebrate Your Victory! 

• Generate positive media coverage.
• Congratulate your mayor with an official Think Outside the Bottle Certificate.

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