Getting Ready for Earth Day: Save Water When You Drink

We've covered water on two occasions before in our Earth Day guides, and today we'll concentrate on being smart with the water we drink.

1) Bottled water is tremendously wasteful -- prepare to catch your jaw as it drops when you see the final numbers -- so we recommend staying away from it, when at all possible.
2) Aside from having a terribly high ecological cost, it can have some pretty strange stuff in it, like stuff to make you skinny, infused with good intentions, and gold.
3) Though some bottled waters like Biota and Jivita are being bottled in biodegradable, compostable plastic, they aren't recyclable and chances are they won't break down in your backyard compost heap.
4) Other companies like Ethos and HtoO are using their bottled-water monies for good, but there's no escaping the fact that it's a huge waste.
5) TreeHugger's advice? Drink tap water, which is cleaner and healthier than bottled in a surprising percentage of locations (learn more at the National Tapwater Database); if you're on the go, plan ahead and fill up a durable, non-toxic container to take with you.