Skepticality #058 - Back to the Tap, the truth about Bottled Water. Interview: Kelly Comstock, Environmental Engineer

Put down that designer bottle of H20!  Did you know that If you choose to get your recommended eight glasses a day from bottled water, you could spend $1,400 US dollars annually? That same amount of tap water would cost about 49 cents.  Wealthy nations like the United States have some of the cleanest, cheapest and best tasting tap water in the world.  The US is also the world's largest consumer of bottled water: 8.3 billion gallons in 2006 (about 26 gallons per person)! Will our rising demand for  bottled water harm our nation's aging water distribution and filtration infrastructure?  And why are groups like Presbyterians for Restoring Creation boycotting bottled water? On this week's Skepticality, Derek and Swoopy speak to Kelly Comstock, an environmental engineer and hydrologist who specializes in potable drinking water filtration technology, to answer these questions—and get to the bottom of the bottled water debate.