As you may recall, in April of last year, the town of Concord, Massachusetts banned the sale of bottled water, making international headlines as the first town in the United States, and maybe even the world, to do so. The ban was set to go into effect in January of this year. However, voters at the annual town meeting, this week, rejected the ban, passing instead a proposal that would educate citizens about bottled water’s environmental impacts. It’s interesting that the vote took place at the beginning of this year’s National Drinking Water Week.

The most probable reason for the ban’s rejection was the citizens’ right to choose bottled water over tap, which is not surprising, considering that Concord is known for being the host of the first battle of the American Revolution. Ironically, however, the voter turnout was very small. Out of the town’s 17,000 citizens, only 537 residents showed up to vote on the issue, which is evidence of the town’s apathy toward both environmentalism and liberty.

Either way, 83-year-old Jean Hill is not giving up. She filed the petition to ban last year, and claims that she’ll be back next year, as well.

By now, it’s clear that we at Filters Fast prefer filtered tap water over bottled water. However, we are also not convinced that an all-out ban is the ultimate solution. In general, most people want to protect their freedom to choose. We have written about the issue of banning bottled water in universities, and this is one of the major reasons why many schools have voted against a ban. What do you think? Should towns and cities ban the sale of bottled water?