Restaurants Ban Bottled Water

Fresh-food pioneer Chez Panisse has joined a growing number of San Francisco–area restaurants in striking bottled water from the menu. The decision to serve local tap water only—flat or carbonated in-house—comes from an effort to cut down on the packaging waste and energy used shipping bottles.

The earth-friendly bottled water ban costs restaurants, since the mark-up on water is a big money maker. But this revenue is also contributing to the growing privatization of municipal water supplies, something Chez Panisse hopes to help discourage. (More sustainable living stories.)