Venice, Italy known for the water that surrounds and runs through the city is turning to the tap for its drinking water. Tired of trash cans and canals filled with empty water bottles the city government is encouraging residents and tourists alike to start drinking tap water.

Trash in Venice has to be collected on foot which is labor intensive and expensive.  Men with wheelbarrows cruise the alleys and canals collecting trash. Collection costs over $300 per ton compared with just under $100 per ton on the mainland according to Ricardo Seccarello, a city official. And the trash collectors only collect trash from bins, not the trash including a large number of plastic bottles that ends up in the canals each day.

Italians drink more bottled water than consumers anywhere else in the world drinking more than 40 gallons per person per year. Go to any restaurant or home in Italy and you will be offered bottled water “con gaz” or “senza gaz” meaning sparkling or natural. Rarely are you offered tap water and never are you offered ice.