Sales of Bottled Water Down

For the past decade, bottled water has seemed to be the best thing since sliced bread. That is, until we realized those weekly 20-packs of plastic bottles are wasting resources and clogging up landfills. The voice of reason and environmentalism has kicked in and for the first time in at least five years, bottled water sales have fallen. Perhaps most notably feeling the draught is Nestlé, the US’ largest seller of bottled water. It reported Wednesday that sales in the first half of the year dropped 2.7 percent with water sales losing the most, the first drop in the past six years. With experts pointing to economic hardship as the reason for the fall in sales, some also note cities such as Takoma Park, Wash., banning bottled water from government events and offices. With tap water’s nearly free fee and reusable water bottles abound, environmentalists’ cups (or bottles) are certainly half full.