TODAY'S TURN: Tap into some common sense

THE ISSUE:
Bottled water is a classic double-edged sword. After years of being nagged into drinking more water, we are - to the tune of 8.25 billion gallons of BOTTLED water alone in 2006.

Sounds great for our health, right? Except that means over 70 million little plastic bottles are hitting the US market every day. And of those 70 million, only 14% are getting recycled. That's 60 million bottles - which can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade - dumped or buried or burned EVERY DAY.

And, like a warped late-night infommercial, that's not all! It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to satisfy our annual water bottle fix. That's enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year. And this doesn't even count the fuels burned by trucking the stuff to every corner of the country.

THE GOOD TURN:
Is bottled water healthier than tap water? Not really, at least not in most parts of the US. The source for much of that crisp, refreshing bottled water with the snow-covered labels and Nordic names? Municipal water systems. So 25% of the market - including Aquafina from Pepsi and Dasani from Coca-Cola - is basically processed city water.

America has one of the safest, cleanest water systems in the world. For the cost of 1 LITER of bottled water, you could buy 1,000 GALLONS of eau de tappe. Try it again for the first time. Save some cash and save some oil - but keep drinking water!

Click here to do this Good Turn.