Australian town residents vote to ban sale of bottled water

RESIDENTS of a rural Australian town hoping to protect the earth and their wallets have voted to ban the sale of bottled water, the first community in the country – and possibly the world – to take such a drastic step in the growing backlash against the industry.

Residents of Bundanoon cheered after their near-unanimous approval of the measure at a town meeting on Wednesday.

It was the second blow to Australia’s beverage industry in one day – hours earlier, the New South Wales state premier banned all state departments and agencies from buying bottled water, calling it a waste of money and natural resources.

“I have never seen 350 Australians in the same room all agreeing to something,” said Jon Dee, who helped spearhead the Bundy on Tap campaign in Bundanoon, a town of 2,500 about 160km south of Sydney. “It’s time for people to realise they’re being conned by the bottled water industry.”

First popularised in the 1980s as a convenient, healthy alternative to sugary drinks, bottled water is often criticised as an environmental menace, with bottles cluttering landfills.

Over the past few years, at least 60 cities in the US and a handful in Canada and Britain have agreed to stop spending taxpayers’ money on bottled water, which is often consumed during city meetings.