Think outside the bottle

I never pass up an opportunity to rant about the wrongheadedness of drinking bottled water; much of it, like Aquafina and Dasani, is simply bottled tap water. Do I seem a little over the top about it? Perhaps all that tap water I drink has addled my brain.

Aquafina labels to show tap water use

San Francisco's mayor banned city employees from using city funds to buy bottled water when tap water is available. Ann Arbor, Michigan passed a resolution banning commercially bottled water at city events and Salt Lake City, Utah asked department heads to eliminate bottled water.

Critics charge the bottled water industry adds plastic to landfills, uses too much energy by producing and shipping bottles across the world and undermines confidence in the safety and cleanliness of public water supplies, all while much of the world's population is without access to clean water.