For my responsible consumption month pledge, I am not using any take-out beverages – soda, water, coffee, etc…
I have found my reusable aluminum bottle to be one of the best purchases I have made so that I can have tap water with me at all times. However, no impact man has shown that there are alternatives to buying something new:

Reuseable cup
Reuseable cup

Riverkeeper.org has posted  a comprehensive list of reasons why we should think about drinking tap water from a reusable container instead of plastic bottles, including:
• Plastic bottle production in the United States annually requires about 17.6 million barrels of oil.
• Worldwide bottling of water uses about 2.7 million tons of plastic each year.
• Tap water costs about $0.002 per gallon compared to the $0.89 to $8.26 per gallon charged for bottled water.
• As much as 40% of bottled water actually comes from the tap, which means bottled water consumers are paying hundreds or thousands of times more for an illusion of purity.
• The federal government requires far more rigorous and frequent safety testing and monitoring of municipal drinking water than of bottled water
• Water bottlers harm the environment by depleting aquifers and other groundwater sources.
• Water bottlers often have an impact on local economies because they pay little for the water they take.
• Water companies can often draw the maximum amount of water they want, regardless of drought or water shortage.
Read more facts here…
New American Dream also posted this news clip from 20/20 which works to defeat myths about the taste of tap water compared to bottle water (personally, I love the taste of NYC water):

For more resources on bottled water check out the Think Outside the Bottle Campaign.
And to see how things went at the IDP Day of Practice in Action – Check out the latest photos here
Day of Practice in Action
Day of Practice in Action
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