San Fransisco banned plastic grocery bags

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For a city that has banned plastic grocery bags and McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, you might expect a similar approach with plastic water bottles. City officials are discussing an ordinance that would, instead of banning plastic water bottles, encourage the use of other containers for drinking water.

According to the Associated Press, the ordinance would require new and renovated buildings to install water bottle-filling stations alongside any drinking fountains. University officials have estimated the busiest tap replaces the equivalent of 35,000 plastic bottles a month.

Adding a bottled-water spigot to existing water fountains would cost at least around $750, according to manufacturers.

In this photo taken Thursday, July 5, 2012, Shauna Barbera uses a bottled water dispenser at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. The city that regulated Happy Meal toys and banned plastic grocery bags has a new target in its health-conscious, eco-friendly crosshairs: plastic water bottles. Photo: Eric Risberg / AP

University officials have estimated the busiest tap replaces the equivalent of 35,000 plastic bottles a month.
Chiu's ordinance calls plastic water bottles "bad for the environment," unnecessarily taking up landfill space and causing greenhouse gas emissions when cheap tap water is available. San Francisco city departments have been barred from buying plastic water bottles since 2007.

Environmental groups are supportive of efforts to wean San Franciscans from plastic water bottles.

"San Francisco has among the best drinking water in country.