UK University bans sale of bottled water

Leeds University in the UK will withdraw all bottled water for sale from its premises, following after a referendum among its students endorsed the move.

As a result of the halting of sales, a total of £32,000 a year in profits will be sacrificed, reported the Guardian newspaper.

Last year, 200,000 bottles of water were bought on the university's campus and are the biggest selling product in the university campus' stores.

Tom Salmon of Leeds University Union stated that it is a matter of "concern about the environment" and that students have chosen to put "sustainability before profit".

He added: "We've got to pull bottled water off the shelves by 2010 and bring in new lines of affordable, reusable water bottles instead."

In similar news, six batches of bottled water were withdrawn from the shelves of Irish retailers on Monday by Shannon Minerals.

This was due to a change in law at the end of November reducing the threshold for coliform content within bottled water.