There is no doubt that drinking plain water is both more healthy and more thirst-quenching than drinking any other fizzy, sugary concoctions. This is equally true when out and about, when walking, shopping, at work or at school. But why does the only alternative to buying a cold fizzy drink seem to be to buy a bottle of expensive, imported drinking water?

Water is universally available, yet we seem more than happy to spend our money on the energy wastage that results from the packaging and transport of bottled water into our island and into our shops.

• Some of us are old enough to remember the time when schools and the town were furnished with several public drinking fountains. Surely these do not cost much to install nor take much effort to maintain.
• All plastic drink bottles are re-usable. Why not take the time to refill a bottle from the tap before leaving for the day?
• Maybe we should look into getting the J-CAN logo printed onto some sturdy, sporty-looking bottles with a slogan like, “Drink local”?
• It's a half-way house, but it would seriously reduce the food-miles if someone started up a simple plant to fill reusable bottles with local water - local tap water, maybe carbon-filtered or UV treated if people think that helps.

What do you think? Use the contact us link to send us your thoughts. Maybe join J-CAN and edit this page yourself!

This is particularly relevant in Jersey when you consider the additional transportation needed to bring bottled water into the island, but there are several other places around the world where similar thoughts are taking root. A town in the New South Wales hopes to become the first community in Australia to ban the sale of bottled water.¹⁾ The San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom, banned municipal departments from purchasing bottled water, even for water coolers.²⁾ The United Church of Canada has advised its 590,000 members to stop buying bottled water.³⁾ There's a whole website in Canada called Inside the bottle, which campaigns to stimulate awareness and action concerning the environmental, health, social and economic impacts of bottled water and calling for the rebuilding and maintenance of public tap water systems.⁴⁾