Tap Water Trickles Down

As the New York Times reports (registration required), Alice Waters stopped serving bottled water at Chez Panisse last year (though, we must point out, Incanto got there first). Now other restaurants are following suit—and, more significantly, people are jumping on the tap water bandwagon as well.

As Sara Kate, of Apartment Therapy: The Kitchen reports:

We recently stopped drinking bottled water from Italy when it occurred to us (why did it take so long?) that as we sit and complain about the state of the environment and the amount of fuel we depend on to bring us our precious luxury items from abroad, that drinking foreign water, packaged up in a heavy glass bottle or yucky plastic, just wasn’t smart.

Another blogger, Jennifer Jeffrey, recently had a similar epiphany:

[O]ver the holiday weekend, I read an article by Jon Mooallem in the New York Times. It painted a vivid picture of the waste bottled water creates…. It also revealed this ugly statistic: this year, Americans will consume 30 billion single-serving bottles of water…. Sadly, only 16% of bottles purchased in California reach the recycle bin. Most of them end up in landfills.

Then there are those who have been on the no-bottled-water bandwagon for a while. Last year, blogger Jen Maiser wrote about the San Francisco company Seltzer Sisters, which delivers carbonated local water to those hankering for their bubbles (or their egg cream). The bottles are picked up weekly and refilled. Not only is it better for the environment, but the bottles are charmingly retro.

Sometimes the most original solution is the best one.