And why in Gatwick Airport do they now only have hot water taps in the public conveniences? Answer: So you can't drink the water or refill your water bottle and so have to go and buy unnecessary and overpriced bottled water from the stores at the airport! I have been travelling for many years backwards and forwards from Gibraltar and Spain and this never used to be the case. I managed to find a drinking fountain outside one of the conveniences at Gatwick in April last year, but have not managed to find it since!

Sally Durlac, Manilva, Spain

well..carbon footprint...how many water company vans are on the road every day.? how much tarmac do the water companies use repairing roads after repairing the leaks that are wasting millions of gallons every year...what;s the carbon footprint for all the electricity used in the pumps?..how many chemicals are used cleaning tap water?..whats the carbon footprint in producing those chemicals? a bit more complicated..would rather buy a bottle of water than a bottle of fizzy pop..health is important and the water companies need to tell us the real carbon footprint..somebody must know how much all the pumps /vans/pipies and equipment contribute...my view..as there is no tap in my car is that a bottle of water is better than a bottle of pop..also is not a filter made of carbon?

JP, hull, uk

You can get perfectly clean water by using a filter...and it will save you money and help the environment. Get the facts about bottled water at www.BottledWaterBlues.com

susan, Los Angeles, CA

Here's a very simple idea for both the Health Secretary and the Environment Minister. Stop wasting energy on shipping bottled water around the world, by persuading people to drink tap water. Make tap water safe to drink, and save yet more energy, by not shipping the poison fluoride into the UK to contaminate that same tap water. Kill two birds with one stone; give the people what they really want – water that really is safe to drink..

Doug Cross, Ulverston, Cumbria

Remember the protests over fuel rises some years ago? yet, why do so few people complain when they pay more per litre for bottled water that is no different, absolutely no different, from the water that comes from your tap.

The truth is they have been successfully marketed to and are buying into an aspiration that the bottled water companies associate with: purity, health, premium price, and smart packaging, placement and endorsement.

If you really don't trust tap water and want purest water available, simply get a filter.

Mark P, Shepherds Bush, UK

What complete and utter rubbish. If it really did produce as much CO2 as they say and if CO2 really did damage the environment, do you honestly think that any responsible government would have ignored the warnings that scientists have been giving for 30 years? Of course they wouldn't. Their inaction just proved to me that global warming is nothing more than a con to screw money out of people. Personally, I'm going to drink more of the stuff. And if I could run my 4 litre Jeep on it, I would do!!

Paul Downes, Milton Keynes, Bucks

Great - are they going to provide safe water taps in every ciry, town and village? I only buy bottled drinks when my own water bottle runs out, but I really can't carry enough for a day with me, especially when going to an interview and can only carry a small bag!

Leon Wolfeson, Oxford, UK

Let me just say that probably 80 percent of bottled water comes not from some picture perfect mountain stream but rather from A TAP!!!! I find it very funny seeing as people are so wound up about this. If the plastic is recycled then what's the huge issue? Should we also cry about products like milk, sodas, sports drinks etc for their plastic packaging? What of them? Find a bigger more worthy cause to fight about- say giving Heather Mills the boot from the society pages!!!!

Lea White , Gloucester, VA, USA

UK= Stalinist state. Don't do this don't do that.
How any labour politician can dictate morality after the last 10 years beggars belief.
It is not for anyone, these people writing in or politician to tell me what type of water I can drink. Remember freedom?

karl, Toronto(but in europe for now),

It depends on where you live.

In the South, the water is filtered through chalk and tastes pleasant. I'd rarely drink bottled water if tap water was available.

In the East, the water is cloudy - tea should not be opaque without milk! It may be safe to drink, but that does not make the experience pleasant. Filters are essential on drinking water and even in the kettle - but I keep a bottle or two of water in the house, just in case.

Also, unless anyone's created the means to take a tap with you, bottled water is the best solution for keeping hydrated on long journeys. Sure, it's *possible* to take a flask of (filtered) tap water, but then by the time you have factored in the cost and hassle of washing the flask, filtering the water, and carrying the extra luggage, you might as well just buy a bottle and recycle it later.

Jo, UK,

"... an estimated 20,000 jobs depended on the bottled water trade......."

Which is not saying much.... Anything can make jobs, that's like saying

"The child pornography industry sustains millions of jobs for perverts around the world"

...yeeeeeeaaaaahhhhh

Alex, Spring Lake, North Carolina

I stopped drinking my tap water when it started to cause my stomach to upset. You only need to take one whiff of the tap water to find out why it causes my stomach to upset and bloat, it reeks to the high heavens of all the chemicals they need to put into it to make it safe.
Although the tap water isn't a pleasant taste I don't mind that, I can live with that, but I can't live with my stomach upsetting and bloating everytime I drink it!

Lia, Manchester, UK

Why should he retract his comments?
The bottled water industry has been feeding us with propagander for years about the benifits of their products, which are absolute clap trap.
There are more regulations and safety checks for tap water than bottled water.
So forget the hype, and use your taps!

Pete, St Albans, England

My "pure" tap water tastes and smells revolting, even after being put through a water filter and left to chill in a fridge, let these idiots telling me i am immoral drink my tap water i bet they soon change their mind!!
I will continue to drink bottled water as the alternative is stomoch churning and revolting.
Get out of your ivory towers and hit the real world i will continue to drink malvern water whatever these jumped up hipocrites say

dave newman, manfield, nottinghamshire

I did buy some bottled water at one point in my life, but I was shocked by the amount of plastic waste generated. For years now, I've been drinking only tap water and as long as it's cold - the only way I really like water - it tastes fantastic.

I used to have two brothers visit me after school twice a week for extra coaching. They only wanted bottled water. If I didn't have any, I would just fill an empty bottle with water from the tap and they didn't notice a thing.

Martina, Düsseldorf, Germany

Try keeping a supply of tap water in your firdge - just like you probably do with your bottled water supply. If you do you'll probably find that it tastes all right.

Luise Hemmer Pihl, Sønder Kastrup, Danmark

Why should I be forced to drink tap water, even after being put through a filter the taste is very inferior to even cheap supermarket brand bottled water. For me, bottled water wins every time. The government's plan to add fluoride to tap water makes bottled water even more desirable.

Michael Cawood, Wrexham, Wales, UK

There's only man who can tackle this problem...the big 'bottler' himself Gordon Brown!

Colin Soames, London,

Come on Ken, do something substantive for the environment; Ban Lorries carrying bottled water.

jasper, chelmsford,

Immoral definitely.

Recently I was refused a glass of tap water with my meal in a restaurant despite the fact that I had ordering a full dinner and wine. They wanted to sell me bottled water at an exhorbitant charge. They did eventually relent when I started to create a fuss about, loudly, in front of the other diners. Needless I have never returned there.

Chris, Ashford, Middlesex, UK

I have never heard such ignorant, ill informed and utterly selfish garbage as that spouted by some of the writers here.
I totally agree (for once) with the politicians; buying bottled water is elitist and totally immoral.
The quality of our tap water is the envy of most of the world, even other developed countries, and how much longer do we need to listen to hackneyed old debate about fluoride.
If you arrogant, greedy and enviromentally ignorant morons really don't like the taste of water straight from the tap; let it stand in an open topped container for a few minutes before drinking and anything that gives it a taste will have rapidly dissipated.
Regardless, we should feel lucky we it's safe; millions have no access to such a resource and the import of botled water, in particular, could be (literally) denying a drink to someone dying of thirst.

Norman Saunders, Udine, Italy

I just drink rainwater. It's not the cleanest, but with the chemicals that are put in tap water these days it's probably safer.

It's probably a good immune system booster too.

Mike Poulsen, Reading, Berkshire

Has anyone ever considered the impact on the water supply of everybody drinking the same amount of water from the tap, rather than bottled water from springs? In a drought, it might well make a difference.

In any event, it is not a legitimate function of government to tell people that exercising their economic freedoms is "immoral".

James E. Petts, Burnham, England

Let them drink champagne?

John, Lindfield,

MY tap water tastes utterly disgusting. The official response is, "It's perfectly safe to drink". It might well be, but I exercise my right to buy a legal product the taste of which I like.

Mike, Lancaster, UK

Traveling often, one of the first things I do when I return to the UK is to have a nice glass of water from the tap. That however is short lived as I eventually revert to bottled.

Farrukh, Woking, UK

but our water is not safe fluridation has caused me to change to bottled water is is dangerous and it is unsafe

Dave Winchester, London, England

At the same time the government are trying to force water companies to add flouride to "Safe, Pure Tap water"

Steven, Oldham,

Our tap water may be safe, but it smells like it's been pumped from the local swimming pool; it's almost undrinkable unless one uses a water filter. How "pure" is that?

Nick, Manchester, UK

Before anyone damns bottled water consumption, examine the long, long and disturbing list of chemicals added to tap water which can be obtained by contacting your water supplier to obtain a free copy of the report each company is required to make annually to the government. These chemicals may make the water safe from specific diseases but what other effects do these chemicals have on the human body - which are possibly even more harmful?

The full effect on the body of each chemical added to the drinking water needs to be examined in detail by independent experts.

SMITH, Kent,

That's 20,000 people that I'm sure could be found useful work somewhere else in our economy such as the health service, police, teaching etc etc that we actually need

Tax it

David West, reading, UK

"... an estimated 20,000 jobs depended on the bottled water trade......."

No doubt in days gone by the designing and running up of the Emperor's new clothes created quite a few jobs in the garment industry too...

Gordon Alexander, Frome, UK