A CAMPAIGN to make Indigo Shire "a bottled water-free" area is being pushed by Greens councillor Jenny O'Connor.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Beechworth resident wants the retailing of water actively discouraged by the shire and more drinking fountains installed.
Anger over the mining of groundwater at Stanley for drinking has prompted Cr O'Connor's call for action.
"It's about sending a pretty clear message that we as a community are changing the way we access water and are much more aware about how we obtain water," she said.
"If Indigo Shire was the first local government area to go bottled-water free that would be a fantastic outcome."
Cr O'Connor said businesses would not be forced to stop selling bottled water.
"We're not going to impose anything, this is something the community has to do voluntarily and because they want to and see it as a good thing to do," she said.
The shire has previously declared itself poker machine-free and officially opposes coal seam gas mining.
"We're going to see agricultural water taken for bottled water – I think it is potentially as threatening to farming as coal seam gas," Cr O'Connor said.
Her opposition to bottled water has won support from fellow councillors Emmerick Teissl and Bernard Gaffney.
Cr O'Connor has invited Huw Kingston, who made Bundanoon in NSW the first town in Australia to stop selling bottled water, to Beechworth to address locals.
He has accepted her invitation, which follows worldwide interest in his action.
A dozen vendors, in the Southern Highlands town of 2500, voluntarily agreed to stop selling water after a mining plan was flagged and Bundy on Tap was born.
"I posited the idea in our town magazine that if we were against water extraction we should be against the end product," Mr Kingston said.
He believes Bundanoon's situation could not be mirrored at Beechworth because of the number of businesses selling water.
"You've got to realise you're fighting some of the biggest multinationals in the world – they play hard and play a little bit dirty," Mr Kingston said.
"They will encourage businesses with incentives or disincentives like saying 'we'll take away your fridge if you back this'."
Cr Teissl said traders could alter focus.
"The shop owners could sell the (permanent) bottles, so it's a way for them to profit from the situation, if they reduce the amount of bottled water they have got," Cr Teissl said.
