The college students of America have a drinking problem, but it’s not what you think.

A small but growing number of colleges have brought down the ban hammer on the on-campus sale of plastic water bottles

WCCO-TV in Minnesota looked at the battle the bottle ban is causing on the campus of one local school.

While you can’t buy a bottle of Evian, Poland Spring or any other water on the campus of the College of St. Benedict, the school has installed 31 hydration stations to allow parched people to fill up any container they choose to carry on to campus.

“The policy does not say that students can’t have bottled water,” says the school’s director of sustainability. “We’re not going to sell it in the bookstore or dining facilities here and we’re not going to use college funds to purchase bottled watered, but we’re not saying to students, they can’t drink bottled water, it’s their right.”

Not thrilled about the ban, republican student groups protested by handing out bottled water on campus.

“A little bit goes along the line of free choice. For us, that’s a big principle, in College Republicans is that you can’t really delegate to students what they can and cannot do in their own free will,” said the chair of the St. Benedict Republicans. “Parents come to visit, we have a big family weekend, Johnny games, everybody is on campus, it’s crawling with visitors all the time and it’s like, there’s no water for them… So it’s like they didn’t bring anything up, they don’t have anything to drink and there isn’t water available to them.”

Colleges Ban Sale Of Water Bottles, Create Controversy [CBSlocal.com]

Thanks to Harper for the tip!

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