BOTTLED WATER WHAT A RIP-OFF. Now someone says something about it!

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a restaurateur turned politician, called on his former colleagues in the restaurant business Thursday to stop selling bottled water to customers and start serving local tap water instead.

The mayor made international headlines last year when he banned city government from spending tax dollars on bottled water for its employees, saying the containers clog landfills and pollute the environment. But his new request that restaurants make the switch is just that - a request.

"Not every restaurant is going to be able to afford to do this," Newsom said, noting that restaurants make a significant profit on bottled water sales and conceding that even some of the restaurants he once owned still offer the bottled variety to customers.

"They still don't necessarily get it. I'm working on that as well," said Newsom, who was required to sever financial ties to the local restaurants, bars and wine shops he owned when he became mayor in 2004.

In a press conference at the Ferry Building - a hub of gourmet food shops and restaurants - Newsom and representatives of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which delivers water to 2.4 million Bay Area customers, announced the campaign to urge restaurants to serve San Francisco tap water piped in straight from the Sierra.

Earlier this month, the American Waterworks Association Research Foundation tested 20 of the nation's water systems for compounds typically used in medicines, household cleaners and cosmetics and found San Francisco's water almost alone in being free of contaminants. And blind taste tests have also shown that the city's water tastes as good as, and in some cases better than, bottled water.

"Bottled water is a con job and scam," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch, a consumer advocacy group that is leading a nationwide campaign against restaurants serving bottled water.

"When a patron goes into a restaurant, they don't have to feel cheap if they don't order bottled water," Hauter said. "They can feel virtuous."

Some restaurants already offer tap water to customers, but many do not, said Kevin Westlye, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, the trade group that represents restaurants in the city.

Westlye said the group had not taken a position on Newsom's request, but said some restaurants may see it as a case of City Hall piling on.

In recent months, local lawmakers have pushed restaurants to ban trans fats and Styrofoam takeout containers, print detailed menu labels to show the nutritional content of foods, and offer paid sick leave and health care to employees.

"Between the trans fats, Styrofoam and now the bottled water, there are just three examples of how the restaurant industry has been targeted on a social issue, while other industries have not," Westlye said.

Eric Rubin, co-owner of Tres Agaves, a Mexican restaurant and tequila bar in the South of Market area, said his restaurant keeps bottled water in stock but that servers never offer it as an option. It is not on the menu, and customers must specifically request it, he said.

"You would prefer that government did not tell you how to run your business, but I do think this is a positive initiative and our guests see it as a positive, too," Rubin said.

Mark Pastore, who owns Incanto, an Italian restaurant in Noe Valley, said he has served only tap water to customers since he opened his business in 2002.

"It's filtered, chilled and we offer complimentary still or sparkling versions," Pastore said. "Our local water tastes as good, if not better than, fancy bottled bottler."

Stephen Kay, a spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association, said restaurant sales make up just 6 percent of the bottled water industry.

"We're not in a totalitarian state," Kay said. "It's all about consumer choice, and consumers should be free to make those choices without having them foisted upon them."

One example that we should be irate about is Fiji Water. The people of Fiji receive only about 2 dollars per case of 24 bottles while the wholesale price in the USA is $49.00. Don't you think something should be done about this when SF water is better. It is an outrage to cheat people out of there product by packaging it in a colorful bottle that costs 275% more than the water. meaning the water costs NOTHING. Your choice.

This last paragraph was written in honor of Inny from Fiji, a dear friend