According to residents, an octogenarian living in Thoreau's town of Concord, Mass., has orchestrated a ban on the sale of bottled water in the area.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Jean Hill, 82, proposed the ban at a town meeting in April and although officials allegedly have hinted they might not strictly enforce the ruling some from the bottled water industry are threatening to sue when the ban takes effect Jan 1.

Tom Lauria, a spokesman for the International Bottled Water Association, said, "It's a completely legal commodity, and to ban it runs afoul of interstate commerce considerations."

The Times further said that Hill's drive to banish plastic water bottles from Concord began when her 10-year-old grandson told her about the Pacific garbage patch floating between California and Hawaii allegedly made up primarily of plastic water bottles.

Hill said, "The bottled water companies are draining our aquifers and selling it back to us. We're trashing our planet, all because of greed."

Hill dismisses that for the critics who dismiss her as being just an old woman with too much time on her hands.

She huffed, "Oh, I know, this little old lady in tennis shoes butting into everyone's business. It's annoying and it's not true. I'm not meddling; I'm trying to accomplish a legitimate goal." (With Inputs from Agencies)