Coun. Gerry Colbert says the late Dorothy Wyatt would have been delighted by Tuesday's decision to ban bottled water at city hall. Coun. Gerry Colbert says the late Dorothy Wyatt would have been delighted by Tuesday's decision to ban bottled water at city hall. (CBC)

A motion to ban bottled water at St. John's city hall flowed easily through a council meeting Tuesday evening.

Councillors backed a motion by Deputy Mayor Ron Ellsworth to set a good environmental example by supplying only water from the city's taps inside the building, as well as at functions that the city sponsors.

Coun. Gerry Colbert said the decision would have pleased the late Dorothy Wyatt, a former mayor and councillor who complained regularly about using commercial water coolers inside city buildings.

"Coun. Wyatt lives. She was at this, Ron, I guess, longer than you and I were here," Colbert said.

"She would stand up all the time and show us the cost and [say], 'How much bottled water did you buy last week?'" Colbert said.

Wyatt died in 2001.

Only one councillor — Wally Collins, a contractor who believes clearing pipes of stale water on Monday mornings will be wasteful — voted against the motion.