The July issue of Fast Company magazine contains an article called “Message in a Bottle” that was an eye-opener for me, and just might be for you, too.

Here are two paragraphs to give you an idea of what I mean:

“Thirty years ago, bottled water barely existed as a business in the United States. Last year, we spent more on Poland Spring, Fiji Water, Evian, Aquafina, and Dasani than we spent on iPods or movie tickets–$15 billion. It will be $16 billion this year.

Bottled water is the food phenomenon of our times. We–a generation raised on tap water and water fountains–drink a billion bottles of water a week, and we’re raising a generation that views tap water with disdain and water fountains with suspicion. We’ve come to pay good money–two or three or four times the cost of gasoline–for a product we have always gotten, and can still get, for free, from taps in our homes. “

Four times the cost of gasoline? The price we’re always grumbling about? For stuff we can get for pennies from our water faucets? Yes! In fact, as the article points out:

“If the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000.”

You can check out the entire article here.