Philadelphia Inquirer - White Dog banning the bottle

By Michael Klein
Inquirer Columnist

Restaurateur Judy Wicks buys local produce and meats.

"Why not water?" asks Wicks, owner of University City's White Dog Cafe.

At an 11 a.m. news conference today, Wicks is set to announce that the White Dog no longer will sell bottled water, delighting environmental activists.

That may be one restaurant. If plans hold, the City of Philadelphia will stop buying bottled water, too.

Wicks explains that the quality of filtered municipal water (e.g., Schuylkill Punch) is no different from, say, Dasani. Also, she says, "it doesn't make sense to ship bottled water, to burn up all those carbons, and possibly take water from aquifers whose communities can't afford it."

Wicks yesterday did not know off the top of her head how much bottled water she has sold - meaning she's also not sure how much the boycott will cost her. (Bottled water, remember, is a high mark-up item.)

The announcement's timing coincides with tomorrow's Philly release of the documentary Flow: For Love of Water and the recent book Water Consciousness.

City officials and reps of the group Corporate Accountability International will be there.

At the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June, Mayor Nutter cosponsored a resolution urging that municipal governments phase out bottled water in city buildings.

The city, weighing such a ban, has put Mark Alan Hughes, the director of sustainability, on the case. Hughes said that while the Philadelphia Water Department is looking into quality and other issues, the movement has taken root. At some city meetings now, pitchers of tap water and recyclable cups are put out. "A year or two ago, we'd have a table full of bottled water," Hughes says.

Today's news conference will be capped by a water taste test.
 

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