"With sales having already surpassed those of milk and beer, and second now only to soda, bottled water is on the verge of becoming the most popular beverage in the country. Only now, with the bottled water industry trading in billions of dollars, have we begun to question the environmental and social fall out of what we're drinking." Elizabeth Royte finds the people, machines, economies, and cultural trends that bring bottled water from nature to our supermarkets. As she visits filtration plants and natural springs, Royte lays out the issues that surround the seemingly simple matter of what we ought to drink: Who owns the water that flows underground, and is it right for corporations to profit from it? How do the manufacture, transportation, and disposal of plastic water bottles affect the environment? Is the stuff coming from our taps okay to drink? If not, what can we do to make our water safe and tasty? And while everyone acknowledges that we must protect public water supplies from pollution, what should we do about privatization?