i know there was already a thread on this but i felt that it deserves a new thread because E/The Environmental Magazine recently did an in-depth feature story on this issue. it's well written and i'm very glad they didn't dismiss the environmental impacts of those billions of plastic containers and thousands of miles that the water must be shipped.

anyway, highly recommended. the full article is here:
http://emagazine.com/september-october_2003/0903feat1.html

my favorite quote is..
According to Co-op America, “as much as 40 percent of bottled water is actually bottled tap water, sometimes with additional treatment, sometimes not.”