After reading the opinions of both sides of the argument from contributors about this issue, I think both sides missed the mark on the bottle water business. First of all, no one was conned at all. When bottled water first appeared on the market, people swore up and down they weren't going to buy it. Tap water was just fine. Second, the people on the other side are overstating the filtering of the water in bottled water. It is no more purified than what water could be done with your run of the mill purifier.

So why is the bottled water market so successful? For quite some time now, I have observed people who bought bottled water, and not all of them are bikers, hikers, and gym rats. Bottled water is bought by average joes and little old ladies, school kids and fat slobs.

The reason why I can address this subject is because I used to sell bottled water, and water for water coolers in offices.

There really is no need to assess Pepsi's revelation because their sales in bottled water will not diminish much because there is still an element of bottled water that is overlooked by both camps on this issue. That element is: convenience.

More Americans want convenience, and in a strange way, bottled water offers a healthy convenience in our modern, fast-paced times.

When I was selling bottled water, I studied my customers and they were unfortunately a rather unhealthy lot. It was not the gym rats, bikers, and hikers that most people think.

Usually people who buy bottle water are actually people who do not drink a healthy amount of water during the day. Surprisingly, these are the people who hate drinking water. The majority of their liquid intake comes from sodas. These people, however, do get to a point sometimes, usually in cycles, where soda is not quenching their thirst and does not clean their system. So instead of stop drinking soda, their favorite drink, these people when needing water will still buy their soda, but they will buy a bottled water.

If you observe carefully, like I have done, you will see quite of few people who buy both soda and bottled water. Very rarely will they buy bottled water alone, unless they truly are athletes, or people changing their lifestyle.

Also, time is a factor as well. People usually buy bottled water in the mornings on their way to work when they also may buy orange juice or coffee or milk. Instead of lugging their own water bottle from home, they'll just buy it out the store because

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