the water footprint of a four-ounce hamburger produced in California is 616 gallons. A cotton T-shirt is backed by 528.3 gallons of water, a single cup of coffee, 52.8.

“You tend to make at least fifty to sixty percent on a bottle of water. [It’s] more profitable than gasoline.”

The United Nations deems water a basic human right.

But refusing Dasani in Des Plaines, I’m pretty sure, isn’t going to help a thirsty Indian any more than cleaning your plate will help a starving African.

In Fiji, as in Fryeburg, nothing’s simple.

Purified water,” of course, starts from the tap, so it’s already assumed to have met EPA standards.)

In 2006, ads for Fiji Water stated, “The Label Says Fiji Because It’s Not Bottled in Cleveland.” Annoyed, Cleveland officials tested the import and found 6.3 micrograms of arsenic per liter. City tap had none. (The EPA’s maximum allowed level is 10 micrograms per liter.)

When Jim Wilfong talks about taxing Poland Spring’s water withdrawals in Maine, he sometimes drops in the word Alaska. It’s a loaded reference, likely to spark thoughts of the Alaska Permanent Fund, a state-run program that puts an annual dividend from the sale of North Slope oil in the pocket of nearly every Alaska resident (in 2007, the dividend

Letting the water run for five minutes at the start of the day flushes lead,