The Big Picture

Not all tap water is perfect, but it takes political will to raise water rates and issue bonds to tighten watershed protection and improve treatment plants and distribution lines. Abandoning these systems in favor of bottled water for drinking and cooking would be enormously expensive for society as a whole, and it would leave vast numbers of Americans with a Hobson’s Choice: either pay more for privately supplied water or rely on public supplies that continue to degrade as our elected officers and government decision-makers abandon them. Instead, let’s fight to improve tap water so that everyone can drink it at home and fill a bottle for the road.