A while back I heard Anita Roddick on the radio talking about how she never buys bottled water as it's overpriced and wasteful in resources. Since then I've asked for tapwater in various restaurants without problems. I just saw another article on the subject at the NY Times. It points out that you might not want to take the chance in some countries, but generally there's no harm in drinking your local tap water. We now have units to cool and filter tap water at work instead of the old containers that were delivered saving a few lorry trips. At home we have a built-in filter and use it to fill a jug for the fridge. Tastes fine to me. I only buy a bottle if I'm desperate when out and about. Maybe there should be more public drinking fountains.