Ozzie town bans bottled water

A rural town in Australia has banned the sale of bottled water.

Campaigners believe that Bundanoon, a New South Wales town with a population of 2,500, is the first community in the world to implement a full ban.

Retailers in Bundanoon, known as ‘Bundy’ to locals, will now be breaking the law if they sell bottled water - although no penalty will be imposed on those who flout the ban.

Instead of buying water, thirsty residents will be about to refill bottles with drinking water from taps along the town’s main street.

The “Bundy on Tap” campaign raised awareness among local residents of the huge amounts of resources wasted when water is extracted, bottled, and transported.

Discarded plastic bottles usually end up in landfill or as litter on the streets, the campaign said.

Opinion in the town was galvanised by proposals by Sydney-based Norlex Holdings to take ground water from the local area for bottling.

“Norlex plans to truck water to Sydney for bottling and sale at great profit to them but no economic or social benefit to Bundanoon,” said a statement on the town’s community website.

Campaigner John Dee said: “The company has been looking to extract water locally, bottle it in Sydney and bring it back here to sell it.

“It made people look at the environmental impact of bottled water and the community has been quite vocal about it.”

The town’s residents are still fighting the proposal in court.

The vote to ban bottled water was decided at a public meeting, with 354 votes in favour and two against.

The two opposing votes were from Geoff Parker of the Australasian Bottle Water Institute, and a man who raised concerns about diabetics.

Parker criticised the ban as unfair, ineffective, and misguided.

“To take away someone’s right to choose possibly the healthiest option in a shop or vending machine doesn’t embrace common sense,” Parker said.