"Ban the Bottle" laws have been enacted all over the world, yet it's not likely we’d do the same. The costs to individuals, their health & the environment are high in terms of the money spent on consumption of these drinks & the pollution & expense of their disposal. We should enact a tax of maybe $.05 per bottle purchased (indexed to inflation) to dampen the purchase of bottled water & other drinks packaged this way. This tax would generate revenue for the maintenance & protection of water sources & infrastructure. Think of the benefits.
The recommended 8 glasses of water a day, at tap rates is about 49¢ yearly; the same amount of bottled water is about $1,400. It takes 17 million barrels of oil yearly to make all the plastic water bottles used in the U.S. The list goes on.