Single-use plastic water bottles will be hard to find on city property if a Los Angeles councilman convinces his colleagues to approve a ban.
“There are billions of people throughout the world who worry every single day whether they will have access to clean, safe drinking water for themselves and their families, yet here in Los Angeles, we have some of the safest, secure sources of drinking water — anywhere — that we take for granted,” City Councilman Paul Krekorian said.
“People still feel compelled to buy water in containers … made out of non-renewable plastic and shipped to us from Fiji,” he said”. Shame on you for doing that, folks. If you are doing that, shame on you.”
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced a plan to install or refurbish 200 public drinking stations.
The project to expand and clean up tap-water stations throughout the city’s parks and recreation areas is intended to facilitate public water accessibility, as part of the city’s Green New Deal, and to prepare for the 2028 Olympic Games, city officials said.
Krekorian, speaking at City Hall on the fifth annual Tap Water Day Los Angeles, said the main reason people should stop buying single-use plastic bottles is because of their negative effects on the ocean and environment. He also mentioned the costs associated with the products.
“Your tap water is 3,000 times cheaper than the water you’re drinking out of that plastic bottle,” he said.
Krekorian on Tuesday introduced a motion to outlaw the sale of single-use plastic water bottles on city property, within city facilities and at city-sponsored and permitted events. The motion also asks for a report on the identification of water sites and possible modifications to event permitting and vendor contracts.
Krekorian last month authored a resolution to make Los Angeles a “Blue City” and identify water as a “fundamental human right” regardless of socioeconomic status.