Will Concord, Massachusetts Ban Bottled Water?

The town of Concord, Mass. is poised to start a new kind of prohibition. Residents voted recently to stop the sale of bottled water in the town by January 2011, the first U.S. town to do so, according to Treehugger.

A legal challenge against the law might be in the works already, though, with the $10 billion bottled-water industry threatening action under the argument that targeting bottled water instead of other plastic-packaged goods is unfair.

82-year-old activist Jean Hill led the charge for the ban, alerting neighbors and town officials to the damage plastic bottles can do to the environment. "All these discarded bottles are damaging our planet, causing clumps of garbage in the oceans that hurt fish, and are creating more pollution on our streets,'' Hill told the Boston Globe. "This is a great achievement to be the first in the country to do this."

While other cities like San Francisco and Seattle restrict city governments from spending money on bottled water, Concord may be the first American town to actually ban the containers entirely. And its easy to see why Concord citizens feel so strongly about this issue: America uses about 1.5 million barrels of oil each year to produce plastic water bottles, not to mention all the emissions associated with shipping the beverages. Kind of a massive carbon footprint for a drink that could just as easily come from your tap.

Action around crafting better regulations for plastic bottles in Massachusetts has energized the debate in Concord. The state is in the midst of trying to revamp a 29-year-old law that allows the redemption of cans and bottles from soda and beer but not of bottles that held non-carbonated beverages, which make up one-third of all of the beverage bottles sold in the state. The new law aims to bump the redemption fee up to 10 cents and make a bigger range of bottles eligible.

The bottled water industry is nonplussed by the town's campaign. "Any efforts to discourage consumers from drinking water, whether tap water or bottled water, is not in the best interests of consumers," Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association, told the Globe. "Bottled water is a very healthy, safe, convenient product that consumers use to stay hydrated.''

There is evidence, however, that water stored in plastic bottles for more than 10 weeks absorbs phthalates, which block testosterone and other hormones. There are rules in place to limit the amount of phthalates in tap water, but bottled water is not regulated like tap water.

Other voices in Concord worry that the new law would take business away from city retailers without much reducing the amount of bottled water people buy. “I think [residents] will just go to Costco and buy in bulk and bring it back to Concord,’’ Paul Mandrioli, owner of West Concord Supermarket, told the Globe. “It will take away a little business."

He is, however, philosophical about the issue and respectful of the democratic process. "We’ve survived a lot more, and a lot worse," he said. "I think it will bother some customers, mostly visitors from other towns. But in Concord, the majority spoke. It’s not going to put us under.’’

Photo: antisocialtory via Flickr