ABC: Kick the Bottled Water, You're Killing the Planet

Drop that Deer Park bottle because with "every sip" you are "hurting the environment."

ABC "World News Sunday" bashed bottled water, and barely included industry representation in a segment about a California restaurant that has stopped serving bottled water.

Eric Horng's July 8 report reinforced the decision of Chez Panisse to stop selling bottled water and lectured viewers about the environmental cost of making those plastic bottles.

“For us, it’s about doing the right thing,” said Michael Kossa-Rienzi, general manager of Chez Panisse, a Berkeley, Calif. restaurant.

While that sounds noble, everything in Chez Panisse, from the furnishings to the tablecloths and the menu items, required energy and natural resources to ship to the restaurant – a detail ignored by the environmentally conscious Kossa-Rienzi and ABC’s Horng. In fact, the dozens of wines offered on the menu are worse for the environment to ship than bottled water because glass bottles are heavier.

Horng included two quotes from Allen Hershkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council -- a radical left-wing environmental group that holds an interesting stance on water.

The NRDC spokesman supported the anti-bottled water decision, but according to its Web site the organization also has a problem with tap water.

“Scientists estimate that each year up to 7 million Americans become sick from contaminated tap water, which can also be lethal. Pollution, old pipes and outdated treatment threaten tap water quality.”

Water, water everywhere but not a drop we're supposed to drink.