CHICAGO -- In her neverending effort to maintain her health and appearance, Jill Walker credits bottled water with improving her digestion, maintaining her skin's elasticity and keeping her away from sugary soda.
The Chicago resident drinks a bottle in the morning after her workout. She tosses another into her bag to take to the office and finishes two more with dinner.
"It's a big part of my health regimen," she says. "When I'm properly hydrated, I can feel the difference in my muscles and my energy level."
In a week, she'll be feeling it in her wallet, too.
Chicago is set to impose a 5-cent tax on bottled water Jan. 1, becoming the first major U.S. city to demand such a surcharge.
The move -- which officials predict will secure an extra $10.5 million annually -- will help the city plug a budget hole by building on the growing disdain for environmentally suspect plastic bottles.
A 30% price increase
Convenience store or vending machine water may only increase from $1.25 to $1.30 per bottle, but the average cost of 24-pack will go from $3.99 to $5.19, a 30% hike.
With 90% of bottled water sales consisting of cases sold at supermarkets, retail experts predict the tax will hurt local grocers as customers cross city lines to save money on water.
The bottled water industry expects a 50% drop in Chicago sales, putting a dent in anticipated revenue from the tax.
"Just like people go to Indiana to buy cheaper cigarettes and gas, people are going to be going outside Chicago to buy bottled water," said David Vite, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. "Once they're at the grocery store, they're going to do more than just buy bottled water, they'll do all their grocery shopping there."
Walker already has decided not to buy her water in the city. She works in suburban Oak Brook two days a week, so she says it'll be easy to stop and pick up a case on her way home.
"Why should I have to pay more for water just because I live in the city?" she asked. "It's not fair and I'm not going to do it."
In an effort to promote tap water, city officials acknowledge they want to curb the bottled variety's use.
Illinois residents consumed 270 million gallons of bottled water in 2005, making it the seventh-biggest bottled water consumer in the United States, according to New York-based Beverage Marketing.
Consumers can avoid the tax by buying enhanced or sparkling water such as Perrier, Water Joe, Smart Water or Vitamin Water. The additives, supplements or carbonation in those beverages differentiate themselves enough from kitchen sink variety to evade the surcharge, according to the new law.
"It has to be like tap water because that's the alterative you have to plain bottled water," said Ed Walsh, spokesman for the city's department of revenue. "You can't go to the tap and get flavored water or enhanced water."
What happens to bottles?
Once touted as the gateway to a healthier lifestyle, bottled water has quickly transformed into symbol of wastefulness. U.S. sales of bottled water topped 11.9 billion in 2006, a 10% increase over the previous year.
Americans drink more bottled water than any other beverage with the exception of carbonated soft drinks, according to the International Bottled Water Association. To meet the demand, the Earth Policy Institute estimates manufacturers use more than 17 million barrels of oil -- enough fuel to run a million U.S. cars for a full year -- in making polyethylene terephthalate plastic bottles.
Only 23% of those bottles, however, are recycled, according to the Container Recycling Institute.Detroit Free Press, Inc.
