Drink bottled water? Not at White Dog

White Dog Cafe owner Judy Wicks considers herself an independent thinker.

So when she decided to stop selling bottled water at her establishment early this year, the decision was based on her commitment to preserving the environment, not local or national trends.

"I've only heard of two other restaurants in the country and none in Philly so far," said Wicks, whose restaurant is located on 34th and Sansom streets. She named Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., and Del Posto in New York City as the only restaurants she knows that have also stopped selling bottled water.

Wicks may have ignited what could become a city and nationwide debate on the potentially harmful effects of producing and distributing bottled water.

"I heard about the movement and realized the number of carbons being emitted in the environment from bottled water delivery was harmful, and that made me a believer," Wicks said.

She decided to stop selling bottled water "to make a statement about it." Last year, she said, White Dog sold more than 2,000 bottles of water for a profit of about $4,000.

If restaurants follow White Dog's lead, it may have a staggering impact on the bottled-water industry. Wicks believes restaurants made bottled water popular, and now restaurants should do more to enlighten the public to the possible dangers posed by its sale.

Still, not all local restaurateurs feel the same way.

"We have a lot of customers who come in just to buy bottled water," said Louie Kosmatos, manager at Allegro's Pizzeria at 40th and Spruce streets. "We have no plans to stop selling bottled water unless we do some reading up on the negative effects it has on the environment."

Brian Phillips, co-owner of the neighboring Copabanana, is another local restaurant owner who needs some convincing before he decides to stop stocking bottles.

"It's something that's been in the press lately, and I'm all for going green," he claimed. But Phillips added that the city's promotion of recycling plastic bottles leaves him wondering if the bottles are really problematic.

Mark Alan Hughes, Philadelphia's director of sustainability, shares some of Wicks' concerns about bottled water.

"The transportation and disposal costs of bottled water create environmental effects that few consumers are aware of," Hughes, a 1986 Penn graduate, wrote in an e-mail. "But especially with tap water as safe and tasty as Philadelphia's, consumers should always have the option to pass on bottled water, and we would encourage them to do so."

The environment isn't the only concern Wicks has about the bottled-water industry. She said some companies engage in unethical practices in order to obtain their water.

"It's also about the social injustice of stealing other people's water," she explained. "And that was something I wasn't gonna be a part of."

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