The mayors of New York and San Francisco are pushing a radical, bold new idea: It's okay to drink the tap water.
NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg is defending his city's $700,000 ad buy promoting its tap water, saying that drinking more water can improve residents' health:
"If you can get [people] to drink a couple glasses more of water and a couple of fewer drinks of sweetened drinks, you could make a big difference in the biggest health threat that we see in this city today - and that's obesity," Bloomberg explained.
In San Fran, Mayor Gavin Newsom has just prohibited city agencies from buying bottled water for their workers -- which had been costing the city $500,000 a year.
As the San Francisco Chronicle notes, this isn't the first instance of its kind:
In 2005, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered city agencies to stop buying bottled water for employees after the media reported that the city had spent nearly $90,000 on it. At the same time, the city water agency was financing a $1 million ad campaign praising the virtues of what came out of the tap.
In many places, it isn't just that tap water is as good as bottled water -- the stuff coming out of the faucet is often better than the $2.00 bottle at the store. Just ask Cleveland.
Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach has written about a range of topics, including social policy issues and urban planning and design. Originally from Tennessee, he joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
E-mail: zpatton@governing.com 
Written and compiled by staff writers and editors, GOVERNING View is an on-the-ground, and sometimes behind-the-scenes, look at the topics we're covering in print and online. From notes on what's up in statehouses, county courthouses and city halls, to encounters with people, places and things, GOVERNING View is a window into the side of state and local government you don't always see.
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