It makes perfect sense for other City agencies to be drinking water managed and produced by the City.

New reusable five-gallon containers featuring tap water from San Francisco’s water system are being installed in City Hall this week as part of a pilot program to provide City departments with more access to the water services managed by the SFPUC.

The water now available to City departments is a blend of water supplies collected from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park, protected watersheds in Alameda and San Mateo Counties, and groundwater from San Francisco’s aquifer. It will replace bottled water previously supplied by Nestlé Global.

Tap water provided by the SFPUC is tested more than 100,000 times a year and is highly regulated by state and federal health agencies.

The taste of San Francisco’s tap water also routinely ranks among the highest quality in the nation. In a blind taste test conducted by the San Francisco Chronicle, four of the five participants preferred the City’s tap water to bottled water alternatives.

San Francisco’s tap water will be provided in five-gallon reusable containers to nine departments with offices in City Hall. Those offices have limited immediate access to tap water facilities or drinking fountains. The pilot program is expected to also include Board of Supervisors’ offices and potential expansion to other departments outside City Hall within a few months as a replacement for bottled water purchased from private companies.

In addition to the new SFPUC five-gallon reusable containers, a drink tap station has been installed in City Hall, helping to complement the dozens of water fountains currently located in the building. The bottle refilling station is situated on the ground floor of City Hall and is one of more than 170 such stations that have been added to San Francisco since the SFPUC launched the Drink Tap program in 2010.