Supervisors ban bottled water for county workers

<p>Tap water is in, bottled water is out for Sonoma County government workers.</p><p>A ban on buying water bottles and dispensers will save the county about $70,000 a year and officials believe it will help save the environment from litter of plastic containers that don't get recycled, officials say.</p><p>When they're thirsty, county employees will have to use reusable water bottles and refill them with tap water.</p><p>“This marks how committed we are to conservation,” said Supervisor Valerie Brown. “We have a Water Agency that keeps reminding us what great water we have, so we should drink it.”</p><p>Brown, who proposed the policy change that was approved unanimously by supervisors Tuesday, said she is challenging city governments and other public agencies to follow the county's lead in switching from packaged water to tap water.</p><p>The county's Department of Health Services decided over a year ago to halt purchase of bottled water for its employees and others, such as the Water Agency, have been encouraging employees to use tap water in reusable containers.</p><p>Last December, Mendocino County officials ceased buying bottled water for their employees, saving $40,000. Similar bans are in force in San Francisco, Davis, Sacramento and San Jose city governments.</p><p>There are several exceptions to the Sonoma County ban that allow packaged water for use during emergency response situations and whenever drinking water is unavailable.</p><p>Last year, the county spent about $25,000 on water bottles and another $45,000 on large containers that dispense chilled water into cups.</p><p>Representatives of CamelBak, a Petaluma-based manufacturer of reusable containers, told supervisors that only 20 percent of single-serving water bottles ever make it to the recycling bin.</p><p>“The number of empty water bottles on the river banks is amazing,” said west county Supervisor Efren Carrillo, who added that he recently participated in a Russian River clean-up effort.</p><p>Over the last couple years, a growing number of restaurants have switched away from bottled water because of environmental concerns that so many containers aren't being recycled and because of evidence that some plastics may leach carcinogens.</p>