Bottled water is the only source of competition for municipal water treatment services. Sometimes it's price is criticized as too high because it is vastly more expensive per liter than municipal drinking water. But the price is often attacked as too low because it does not include the environmental cost of the plastic containers. Ideally, bottled beverages and goods of all kinds should include the environmental costs of the products. It is nonsensical to ban plastic water bottles but not to ban plastic bottles of Coke or Pepsi. For that matter, consider all of the products we all purchase consistantly and packaged in plastic that after use goes directly into the trash.

Bottled water and municipal water is highly regulated yet the quality of municipal as well as rural drinking water is not consistent across the country. The potential result of banning bottled water would be to eliminate choice for consumers.