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A law passed by the town of Concord went into effect with the New Year, making single-serving bottles of water illegal.
The ban is intended to encourage use of tap water and curb the worldwide problem of plastic pollution.
It only applies to "non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water." Coke or other soft drinks are exempt.
Jean Hill, an 84-year-old activist, thought up the ban, arguing that bottles fill garbage dumps, while consumers are lured into drinking water they could obtain for a tiny
fraction of the cost at their own sink.
"The bottled water companies are draining our aquifers and selling it back to us. I'm going to work until I drop on this," Hill told The New York Times in 2010.
First time offenders get a warning. Anyone caught selling the banned bottles a second time will be fined USD 25, and $50 thereafter.
It's odd that fizzy drink containers (Coke, Pepsi etc) are excluded in this ban. My guess is they contribute more to the garbage problem as Americans drink a lot of them. They are inherently bad for health too. One study found consuming them increased the odds of pancreatic cancer. It's a no-brainer that they contribute to the huge diabetes problem in America these days.
They can well afford to do that as tap water there is very safe to drink. In India even bottled water is not safe anywhere.
