Individual Knockout Bottled Water Pledge

Because water is a human right and not a commodity to be bought and sold for profit;

Because bottled water corporations are changing the very way people think about water and undermining people's confidence in public water systems;

Because up to 40% of bottled water in the U.S. is sourced from municipal tap water and local governments invest approximately $43 billion a year for pure drinking water and treating wastewater;

Because some bottlers have not addressed communities' concerns and the environmental damage when they extract water and build bottling plants to privatize local spring and ground water;

Because bottled water travels many miles from the source, results in the burning of massive amounts of fossil fuels, and contributes to the billions of plastic bottles ending up in our landfills making it the fastest growing sources of municipal waste;

Because worldwide there is a need for investments in public water systems to ensure equal access to water, a key ingredient for prosperity and health for all people; and

Because solutions to ensuring water as a fundamental human right require people acting together and standing up for public water systems,

Because bottled water costs more than an equivalent volume of gasoline, equivalent to 1,000 to 10,000 times more than tap water; and

Because in the U.S. the plastic bottles produced for water require 1.5 million barrels of oil per year, enough to generate electricity for 250,000 homes or fuel 100,000 cars for a year.

I pledge to Knockout Bottled Water, which means:

Opting for public tap water over bottled water; and

Supporting the efforts of local officials who prioritize strong public water systems over bottled water profits.