Councilman Aims To Bottle & Sell Anne Arundel County's Award-Winning Water

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ)-- Water is a good way to quench the thirst in our record-breaking heat, but how about using it to make some cash? That's what one Anne Arundel County councilman wants to do with that county's award-winning H2O.

Gigi Barnett reports.

Out of faucets in Anne Arundel County comes some award-winning water. The county's H2O consistently tops tasting competitions.

Now, County Councilman John Grasso says the county should use it to plug some deep holes in its budget.

"We're going to wind up like one of the towns in California that goes bankrupt. We're either going to have to raise taxes, reduce expenses or come up with a way to make money," he said.

Grasso wants to bottle the county's water and sell it in schools, businesses and county parks.

Sounds simple, but opponents say it won't be because the county will end up competing with big, private water companies, and convincing vendors to carry it could be a challenge.

But Grasso wants to make a go of it anyway.

"The question is: How much money do we want to make? I've talked with a bunch of different people who have restaurants and bars, and would be more than happy to carry the water," he said.

The idea to sell the water came up about 12 years ago but county lawyers flushed the idea.

Grasso says the time is now because county customers have more than one reason to buy.

"It's going to be a better quality water than they're getting out of the faucet, because it's going to be purified. And the second thing is, when they buy that water, they're automatically going to be helping themselves reduce their taxes," he said.

Other towns in Utah, Kentucky and Ohio bottle and sell their award-winning water.