I think this is funny, especially in light of those people who insist that bottled water tastes better and is healthier. Personally, I only buy bottled water when I'm out and won't be able to get something to drink for a while.

The net environmental cost, in terms of energy usage and waste stream is strikingly high. Bottled water is always my last choice. I am fortunate, though. I live in Great Lakes country and have excellent public water available. Water availability has been a topic of my bar customer's conversations of late. It isn't going to be pretty when the sources continue to go dry.

I'm from Eastern PA, and we too have excellent public water. I think the quality of the public water supply really has improved, and the bottled water craze is just playing off of old, out-dated fears. Personally, I refill my water bottles with tap water and stick them in the fridge. And it tastes exactly the same as when I buy it new.

I drink tap water (in Houston, it's pretty good).

Bottled watter is different from straight tap watter. They do filter it and add minerals for taste. This whole story is just silly.

On the other hand, I too only use bottled water when I need it for convenience such as when we went down the river a few weeks ago. Otherwise I drink water from the fridge dispenser which is also filtered. But I do know some places where the local minerals make the water taste bad or where chlorine in the summer time is really strong to keep the water free of contaminants.

Oh, this is great. At school, there is a faucet that has pretty much the best tasting water in the world. We call it the "Aquafina Tap," because Aquafina is the best water ever. How ironic. Now I know why.
And I like Aquafina even more because of it. Haha!