New research from the Earth Policy Institute indicates that consumers are wasting $100 billion a year on bottled water.

That's no surprise. Experts have said for years that tap water in most cases is every bit as healthy as the stuff that comes in fancy bottles -- with pricetags that make gasoline look like a bargain. In fact, bottled water often is nothing but plain old tap water.

For about $300, the average American can get a year's supply of tap water for everything from drinking to washing the car and doing the laundry. Or, that $300 could buy about 75 gallons of water with a fancy name.

The fact that consumers waste good money on 41 billion gallons of wet stuff every year would be comic if it weren't so tragic.

According to the EPI, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used bottling water every year, and 86 percent of bottles in America end up as trash. Then there's the oil burned hauling water all over the place.

For a fraction of what we spend on designer water, we could provide every person on earth with safe drinking water and sanitation, saving millions of lives -- most of them children.

Give that some thought next time you slurp on something called "Eau du Montagne" or "Mist of Majorca." Doesn't taste so sweet anymore, does it?