The global market for bottled water is forecast to reach $86,421.2 million by next year. Around 200 billion bottles of water are consumed in a year creating flow of garbage with no end in sight.

To suppress the flow of garbage and the additional use of energy for purification, New York City is promoting its tap water as a sustainable alternative to bottled drinking water.

New York’s water comes from a highly protected watershed upstate. The Environmental Protection Department oversees a daily supply of more than one billion gallons of this fresh water, which serves nine million people. “Our high-quality drinking water not only quenches New Yorkers’ thirst, but is the not-so-secret ingredient in the bagels, pizza, and thousands of other dishes that people come from around the world to get,” said Cas Holloway, the city’s environmental protection commissioner, in a statement announcing new products last week.

In partnership with Fishs Eddy, a New York-based purveyor of glassware, dinnerware and kitchen goods, the city has come up with merchandise bearing the NYC Water logo: a stylized tap with a drop of water, with the slogan “drink NYC water.” This merchandise available at the city’s online shop for everything New York, CityStore, range from glasses to T-shirts to even coasters, decanters and water bottles.

They hope that this will push for people to consume tap water instead of bottled water; the city can reduce the energy needed and the litter generated by its consumption. The city government is also set to provide other means to reduce bottled water consumption, including the provision of outdoor drinking stations connected to fire hydrants at parks, public plazas and other outdoor spaces. These stations come with six faucets for people, and even a water bowl for pets to drink from.

In the 1980’s it was unthinkable that people would want to actually buy their water in a bottle. I suppose fear of disease and harmful elements in water combined with the marketing efforts of brands like Fiji and Evian have made it part of popular culture to buy water from a bottle even when we can get it for free from the tap. Hopefully, New York can be the first to reverse that trend.