Concord seems to be at the forefront of historic changes. From the American Revolutionary War to the Transcendentalist Movement to the recent(2012) Water Bottle Ban we seem to always be in the news!
Tonight an article seeking to repeal Concord’s landmark single serve bottled water banning bylaw will be voted on at Town Meeting.

Here is one side:

Water bottles might seem like a small thing, but according to Ban the Bottle:

“It takes 17 million barrels of oil per year to make all the plastic water bottles used in the U.S. alone. That’s enough oil to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year.” Their website also states: “In 2007, Americans consumed over 50 billion single serve bottles of water. With a recycling rate of only 23%, over 38 billion bottles end up in landfills.”
And it’s not like bottled water is a good deal for your wallet either:
“The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates equals about $.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400.”

Here is the other side:

Concord’s ban is having unintended consequences. People are switching to less healthy alternatives that carry a heavier environmental and health impact. According to the International Bottled Water Association, since 1998, approximately 73 percent of the growth in bottled water consumption has come from people switching from carbonated soft drinks, juices and milk. Each of these drinks requires more packaging than bottled water, and consumers in Concord are now being forced to buy those products when trying to quench their thirst. I have heard anecdotally from local business owners that even in the short time the ban has been in effect, they have seen this behavior quite clearly.

It will be interesting to see which way people vote!