At an annual town hall meeting that garnered nationwide attention, the citizens of Concord, Mass., voted down a proposal to ban the sale of single-serve bottled water. "It is good to see common sense and reasonable public policies prevail in the defeat of this unnecessary and over-reaching measure," said Joe Doss, president and CEO of the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) in a prepared statement. "We commend the citizens of Concord for recognizing the importance of bottled water as a safe, healthy, convenient beverage. We also want to thank the Northeast Bottled Water Association (NEBWA) and Concord-based businesses for their tireless efforts in alerting Concord voters to the effects on the local economy of a total prohibition of sale of bottled water."
IBWA also commends the Retail Association of Massachusetts, who agreed with us that banning bottled water would hurt local merchants and burden Concord taxpayers. In addition, IBWA recognizes the effort made by the Concord Board of Health and Emerson Hospital in Concord, who sent individual letters opposing the ban, citing public health issues if bottled water was not readily available to its citizens.
The Town of Concord faced an influx of attention from anti-bottled water activists seeking total bans on bottled water sales. Among the groups supporting the losing case for prohibition of bottled water were Food and Water Watch and Corporate Accountability International.
