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Do drink the water in Venice

We all know how expensive it is to visit Venice, partly because of the city logistics. The same complications drive up the price of trash collection, an operation conducted by sanitation workers with wheelbarrows, which costs about $335 million per ton compared with $84 million per ton on the Italian mainland.

You can’t do much about potato peels, but the city of Venice is trying to limit onerous plastic bottle trash by encouraging tourists and locals alike to drink water from municipal taps. Officials have given the local H2O a fancy moniker — Acqua Veritas — and have started to distribute glass containers with a logo to make the tap-water drinking experience more palatable.

Of course, habits are hard to change, even among those who know that Venetian tap water is top-notch. It’s mostly drawn from deep wells, carbon-filtered in treatment plants and laboratory-tested so that it meets the highest standards.

Since the launch of the campaign, officials have noticed a decrease in plastic bottle trash but see the problem persisting in stores and restaurants. So tourists, who outnumber residents 100 to 1, can do La Serenissima a big favor by insisting on Acqua Veritas from the tap.

— Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Photo: A Venetian canal. Credit: Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 at 3:43 pm by Susan Spano and is filed under Eco-Travel, Europe, Global, Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

3 Comments on “Do drink the water in Venice”

wormser mcgee Says:
September 28th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
miss susan spano, la times staff writer… does this water that “meets the highest standards” have the toxic compound sodium fluoride added to it as our benevolent government here so gracious adds to our own water supply? and for all you that believe this is for our own good by the same government that you trust to operate the economy, health care and defense, then climb right into the ovens. they are for your own good, too. hey susan, maybe you can do your next piece on the gas chambers of auschwitz. i’m sure they met the highest standards, too.
Jeremy Miles Says:
September 28th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
$335 million / ton equals $165,000 per pound. I’ll take anyone’s trash from anywhere for that much cash.
Barry Halpert Says:
September 28th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
I wish NYC would do the same thing! We have the best tasting water.

BOTTLED WATER WHAT A WASTE (in most cases, maybe no Mexico)