Your Choice

People choose bottled water for a variety of reasons. One among them is that it is often an alternative to beverages that include calories that some consumers seek to avoid. Clearly, there is a public health benefit associated with allowing people to drink a product that provides hydration without extra calories.

The fact that governments should tax, ban or spend taxpayer dollars to engage in a campaign against a product that people otherwise freely choose to purchase is unfortunate to say the least. There have been a few voices of reason on this topic, some of which are worth highlighting here. The editor-at large of MacLean’s magazine put it very well in a letter to the editor in a local Canadian paper about bans of bottled water in schools. He noted:

“My issue with bottled water is why a school board (or the United Church, for that matter) thinks it should have the power to deny children a popular and convenient source of water. A few years ago my sons’ school demanded that every child have a bottle of water on their desk. Now it’s forbidden? School boards are notoriously changeable and lacking in common sense, but this is ridiculous. … If Westminster United Church or the school board trustees don’t like bottled water, they don’t have to buy it. But who gave them the right to decide what everyone else gets to drink?” (See: Peter Taylor, “Water Policy Reversed,” Waterloo Region Record, May 16, 2008, A12.)

James R. Amoroso, Food Sector Analyst, Equity Research, Helvea notes:

“A ban solves nothing, tries to solve the wrong problem, helps reverse a healthy consumer trend, is anti-competitive, creates a legislative nightmare and strikes at the heart of consumer freedom. … Dissuading anyone from drinking pure, calorie-free water is total insanity and a retrograde step. Health and wellness is one of the key drivers of consumption, not ‘chic’.” (See: James R Amoroso, Letter of the Week/Bottled Water Ban: Sheer Nonsense, Grocer, August 4, 2007, 20.)

One mayor stood up for reason, calling the Conference of Mayors’ anti-bottled water resolution “over the top.” Ohio’s Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Robart offered his own resolution as an alternative, which read that government bottled water bans “simply eliminate a healthy beverage option” and “bottled water does not in any way burden the public water infrastructure.” Jim Carney, “Robart Opposes Bottled Water Ban:,’” Akron Beacon Journal, June 21, 2008.)