King Co. WA council OK's bottled water limits

The King County Council has approved a measure to limit the purchase of single-serving bottled water by county agencies and offices.

Councilman Dow Constantine said Monday that producing a single one-liter plastic water bottle itself consumes three liters of water and producing the 31 million bottles of water Americans purchase annually requires 17 million gallons of oil.

He says Seattle's cities and water districts provide some of the best drinking water in the country.

The measure directs County Executive Ron Sims to implement the restriction in the county's purchasing policy. Single servings of bottled water would still be OK where there are no reasonable alternatives - and purchases of water for water coolers are not affected.

Last month, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels asked city residents not to buy bottled water. He said making and moving the plastic water bottles wastes energy and creates piles of trash.

The mayor also says Seattle's tapwater is good to drink, and far cheaper than bottled water.