ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) has issued a statement regarding the San Francisco Board of Supervisor’s approval of a bill restricting consumer and employee access to single-serve bottled water on city and county property, according to a press release.
“The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) supports the right of San Franciscans to choose clean, safe, healthy, refreshing, reliable and zero-calorie bottled water when making their beverage decisions. Efforts to eliminate access to bottled water on San Francisco city or county property will force people to choose less healthy drink options, which have more packaging, more additives (e.g., sugar, caffeine) and greater environmental impacts than bottled water,” says Joe Doss, IBWA president.
“Moreover, this legislation means that there will be no bottled water available on city or county property for immune compromised people or during emergency situations when tap water is compromised,” added Doss.
According to the release, banning access to bottled water directly impacts the right of people to choose the healthiest beverage on the shelf, which for many people is a critical alternative to other packaged beverages.
Bottled water is comprehensively regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a packaged food product, continued the release, and it provides a consistently safe and reliable source of drinking water.
