Think bottled water is better for your diet than tap water? Give it some more thought, in light of this just-released news: Bottled water is no better for your body than tap water.

Just as many contaminants are floating in your bottles than from your taps, a new study says. Translation: Bottled water is no purer than tap water. It's safe to say that most tested brands of water met federal standards, despite contamination -- two were suspect -- but don't worry, no one is saying water is now unhealthy. The issue is that we understand that water is water is water. Drink it from a bottle, or drink it from the tap. According to this study, there really is no difference.

Wondering what contaminants were found in the 10 brands that were tested? Here goes: Bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals, and the radioactive element strontium. Thirty-eight chemicals were detected in all. Researcher wisdom says that some of this stuff probably came from tap water that some companies use for their bottled water, and others probably leached from plastic bottles.

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I'm a tap water kind of gal, though I know some people who will only drink filtered or even spring water. I've often wondered if their unwavering loyalty to spring water is actually doing anything for them or if they're be better off drinking from the tap like me. The Beauty Brains fielded a questions about spring water recently, and here's what they had to say:

"The main problem with drinking that much spring water is that it will cost you a lot of money. It also creates a large amount of plastic waste so it is not a very environmentally conscious thing to do. You are much better off drinking tap water. The sad truth is many bottled water companies actually just take city tap water run it through a simple filter and call spring water."

What do you think? Will you still swear by your spring water, or will you do the environmentally friendly thing by switching to tap water?

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Are all waters created equal? I think not. While they're elementally the same, it's widely believed that there's a difference between the different tap bottled, spring and nutrient-infused waters. Which one is the best, and should you be spending money to get it? Glee Magazine has rated several aquas, including those coming from in-home filters, those coming out of bottles and those with added pizazz. The winners are:

• Brita and PUR water filtration systems, which are eco-friendly because you don't waste all those water bottles -- you just make it at home!
• Iceland Spring and LeBleu waters won the taste test for plain bottled waters
• San Pellegrino won the taste test for flavoured or carbonated waters

What's your favourite water? I guess I'm a bit of a simple sally -- I stick to drinking just plain old tap water.

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Now there's a declaration you won't see in many health outlets. Stop drinking bottled water? To be fair, the tap versus bottled water bit has been argued before. This article, however, is playing devil's advocate in tackling the issue from a different perspective. Here are a few reasons one might consider dropping bottled water.

Penny pinchers might be surprised at how much of a poor deal bottled water really is. Buying it from a vending machine for $1 (a common price in many places) puts its value at 5 cents an ounce. Now start thinking about gasoline prices for a moment. From a consumer perspective, $3 per gallon gas prices comes out to roughly 2 cents an ounce. Are we really paying that much more for a renewable commodity like water?

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