Also, there was a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor. It’s not the best article I have read on this topic, but on the last page there’s a pretty frightening statement:
“Water-sector analyst Joseph DiLillo at the Shemano Group in Los Angeles likes California water utilities because they’re some of the few in the country that actually own the water they sell.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0625/p14s01-wmgn.html?page=1

- industry growing at enormous rate
- demand for water means aquifers are being lowered and/or depleted
- demand means private companies are managing to privatize water
supplies in US and overseas, meaning that this absolutely critical
resource is being handed over to companies beholden to wall street
and to profit and there is great potential that the poor will be unable to
afford water in the future
- bottled water’s ad campaign undermines the purity, flavor, and
appearance of muni water supplies and undermines the tax base and
the political will to maintain pure, tasty, good looking muni water
distribution systems
- the bottled water industry is regulated by FDA and there’s minimal
administration of the FDA oversight whereas EPA regulates municipal
systems that are tested regularly
- the quality of bottled water is actually so unregulated that it is notorious
for its poor quality
- the bottles used for bottled water if reused are reportedly emitting
carcinogenic gases.