posted                      

quote:

---

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Recently, I stopped by my neighborhood Exxon station to conduct a price test. A 20-ounce bottle of Aquafina water cost $1.57, including tax. A 20-ounce bottle of Pepsi also cost $1.57. Regular gas sold for $3.05 a gallon.

Yep - water costs the same as soda and three times as much as the gas.

So critics are asking: Why drink bottled water?

After all, it's pricey. Packaging and shipping water consumes energy and contributes to global warming. Empty bottles add to litter and solid waste. And, as a rule, bottled water is no safer or healthier than the H2O that flows from municipal water systems.

...

Still, for consumers who want to minimize their impact on the environment and their waistlines, there's a good alternative to bottled water - namely, tap water and a reusable water bottle. Corporate Accountability sells a 22-ounce blue aluminum bottle emblazoned with the slogan "Think Outside the Bottle."

Gina Solomon, a physician and senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, who oversaw the group's 1999 study, uses a low-cost filter at home and a reusable bottle of tap water.

"People complain about the cost of gasoline," Solomon says. "No one seems to realize that they are paying for a picture of pretty mountains on the label and a product they could get for free from their own tap."

---