Water

"People should not have to spend an exorbitant amount for quality water," said Ken Blomberg, executive director of the Wisconsin Rural Water Association, which promotes the sale of bottled municipal water as a less-expensive alternative to the commercially bottled product.

People often buy bottled water thinking that it's safer or better than tap water, Blomberg said, when up to 70 per cent of bottled water sold commercially in the U.S. comes from a municipal tap - that is, people pay for bottles of the water that they could otherwise get from their kitchen taps for free.

"However, water is a very local thing," said Greg Kail, senior public affairs manager for the American Water Works Association, which includes water treatment plant operators, scientists, environmentalists, regulators and others interested in the country's water supply and public health.

Kail said there are thousands of water utilities around the country using many different sources for their product and with different types of treatments. There is no organized national effort to promote bottled tap water over water bottled commercially, he said.

Nonetheless, some other major cities have started selling bottled tap water, including Kansas City, Mo., which provides retailers with cases of 24, 20-ounce bottles, each for $9.50 US - retailers set their own prices - and San Francisco, which offers its water in 16.9-ounce bottles for $1.25 each.

Louisville, Ky., has given away empty reusable sports bottles for eight years with the message: "If you want really great bottled water in our community, all you need is the bottle." The city has filled smaller bottles with its municipal tap water and distributed them free for seven years to community groups and at events.

Blomberg's Wisconsin group, which represents rural water utilities, began pushing the sale of bottled municipal water about two years ago after hearing of a successful effort in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek. The group's push is at the front end of the trend nationally, said Mike Keegan, an analyst for the National Rural Water Association.

"I think a lot of others will follow," he said.

Beverage Marketing Corp., a consultant to the industry, said bottled water consumption in the country increased from 40 litres per capita in 1993 to 90 litres in 2004.

Judith Thorman, vice-president for state and local affairs for the American Beverage Association, a trade group that represents commercial water companies and producers of other non-alcoholic beverages, said she did not have figures on the percentage of bottled water that comes from municipal taps.