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Top Boston Area Restaurants Join City Officials to Announce Elimination of Bottled Water Contracts For Immediate Release: April 3, 2008 Contact: Annie Sanders, 617-747-4373 Boston — Leading restaurants joined city officials and community members today at The Other Side Café on Newbury St. to support and promote the use of Boston’s high-quality tap water. Boston and Somerville signed a pledge to support public water systems over bottled water. Cambridge cancelled their bottled water contract in January 2008. These moves are part of a nationwide effort, dubbed “Think Outside the Bottle,” that exposes the environmental and social impacts of bottled water. “Water is more than just something we pour in a glass,” said Henry Patterson, owner of The Other Side Café. “We rely on water for our food supply and on a clean environment for food quality. So it’s in our restaurant’s and our customers’ best interest to protect the primary resource behind our business. Fortunately, using Boston’s high quality tap water instead of bottled water also saves our patrons money.” Bottled water, now a $15 billion industry, began its boom when it appeared on the menus of high-end restaurants. The restaurant industry is now turning back the clock, following the example of prominent restaurateurs like Mario Batali (Del Posto) and Alice Waters (Chez Panisse). Six restaurants in Boston and Cambridge have taken the pledge, including Small Plates, Herrell’s, TJ Scallywags, Bella Luna Milky Way, The Grasshopper, and The Other Side Café. “Boston has some of the finest quality and best tasting drinking water in the country,” said James Hunt, of the City of Boston Environmental and Energy Services. “Businesses and residents that use Boston water support the message that our city’s tap water is world class, while also eliminating needless plastic waste that litter our neighborhoods and our streets and polluting our environment.” City officials from Cambridge and Somerville announced their decisions to stop using taxpayer dollars to buy bottled water. The city of Boston pledged this fall to Think Outside the Bottle, and is currently auditing Boston’s bottled water usage in municipal facilities. Boston is committed to curtailing and even eliminating the use of bottled water where feasible. Cities across the country have decided to stop buying bottled water in order to promote tap water and reduce waste. Their efforts also counter the bottled water marketing efforts that have eroded confidence in public water systems, even though tap is more highly regulated than bottled water. Massachusetts community groups are particularly concerned about the impact of bottled water corporations in-state. Nestlé Waters North America, which markets Poland Spring, is proposing bottling water from the Wekepeke Reservoir. Sterling, MA, a town forty miles west of Boston, depends on the reservoir for its water supply. “I am glad to see Boston and local restaurants taking a stand on this issue, and hope that this momentum can keep Sterling’s water safe and accessible for all,” said Cathy Harragian of the Committee for Informed Citizens in Sterling. “The bottom line is that water is a public trust,” said Annie Sanders, Boston Field Organizer with Corporate Accountability International. “When it is treated as a commodity instead of a shared natural resource, our democracy, health and environment suffers.” # # # For more information on Think Outside the Bottle, city and restaurant actions across the country, and for facts about bottled water, visit www.ThinkOutsideTheBottle.org.
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