Water is one of Earth's most essential non-renewable natural resources. Technically, an unhydrated human cannot live more than three days. In the United States, people mainly consume tap water and bottled water. However, consumption between these two sources is not equal, but leans heavily to one side. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, people consume between 240 and more than 10,000 times more per gallon of bottled water than usual for tap water. (NRDC) Additionally, according to a survey by the United States National Library of Medicines, only 17% of participants prefer to drink tap water exclusively. (U.S. National Library) Compared to bottled water that shines like a superstar, tap water is like a hard worker in the shadows, unpopular but useful. The extreme imbalance in bottled water consumption implies that a common conception exists: bottled water is superior to tap water. In fact, scientific evidence proves that tap water is no different from bottled water. More importantly, excessive consumption of bottled water constitutes an irrational use of resources and creates serious environmental problems. An interesting test was conducted in December 2013 by ABC News' Dr. Richard Besser in New York's Center Park to see if people can distinguish tap water from bottled water. Two large pots are filled with bottled water in pot A and tap water in pot B. Passersby were asked to taste the water in different pots and vote for which one they thought was the right one. 'bottled water. (ABC News) The result reveals that the difference in taste between tap water and bottled water is negligible: eleven people choose pot A while nine people choose pot B. However, this result should not be surprising...... middle of paper ...... crisis, bottled water deteriorates the situation. Therefore, consuming bottled water is equivalent to accelerating the process of global warming. Indeed, walking to the kitchen and turning on the faucet is much easier than driving to the store and bringing home a case of bottled water. The government should make it known that the quality of tap water is as safe as bottled water. Additionally, advertising by bottled water companies should be strictly regulated to prevent them from misleading customers. If the situation does not improve, the government may heavily tax bottled water companies to reduce both the quantity demanded by the customer and the quantity supplied by the bottled water company. In fact, the heavy tax on bottled water is justified because the negative externalities created by the plastic bottle are harmful to the Earth..