There's a sucker born every minute -- and if you doubt it, just ask the folks in the bottled water industry.

For years now, millions of other Americans -- myself included -- have happily handed over $1.50 or so for a bottle of water. Some of us like the convenience. But most of us believe that bottled water is healthier or safer than tap water.

But the truth is that the world's most popular bottled water brands are, quite literally, tap water. In other words, we spend $11 billion (billion!) on something that's essentially free.

We might pay for the concept of pristine mountain spring water [0], even though that water springs from faucets in Queens, Detroit, and other places don't exactly that conjure up pristine springs on soaring, snow-capped peaks.

Aquafina [1], which is bottled by PepsiCo, recently announced they will add a sentence [2] to let consumers know [2] that its contents come from "Public Water Sources." Meanwhile, Coca-Cola, makers of Dasani water, will post information about quality control testing, according to CNN.com [3].

The reason behind the move seems to due to activism from environmental groups and grass roots campaigns, such as Think Outside the Bottle [4], which seeks to challenge corporate control of water.

Meanwhile, environmental groups like the Natural Resource Defence Council [5]and the World Wildlife Fund [6] have conducted numerous studies. According to an in-depth article at E Magazine [7], these groups have been trying to wake up all of us suckers for years now.

Seems like some of us are finally starting to get the message. Earlier this summer, the mayor of San Fransisco banned the use of city funds to buy disposable plastic water bottles. Other cities, including New York, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City are following his lead.

The real problem, of course, is not all the money that we're wasting (although people who buy two bottles of water daily spend about $1,400 per year [8] on the stuff).

The larger concern is that producing and disposing of all those plastic bottles takes a massive toll [9] on the planet. Experts say that most bottles don't get recycled and wind up in landfills. Meanwhile, making those bottles uses more than 14 million gallons of oil.

Personally, I have no problem tapping my kitchen sink to refill my reuseable water bottle [9]. I also usually refill it again from the water fountains at my gym.

So, now that this problem has been solved, I just have to figure out whether to trust this guy who wants to sell me a little piece of the Brooklyn Bridge.