If things look a little greener around here this April, there's a good reason. Our editorial staff is busy expanding the ideals of Earth Day into a month-long celebration of energy conservation, alternative transportation, recycling tips and about a million ways you can be a better friend to the planet. Welcome to Green Month, Milwaukee.

Thirsty customers hear the question asked thousands of times every day at establishments throughout Milwaukee.

Bottle or tap?

In a majority of cases, the question refers to beer. In recent years, however, servers at upscale restaurants and even some mom and pop operations have posted the query to dinners when offering drinking water at the table.

Bottle or tap?

On the surface, it's a simple question. There is nothing simple, though, about the mental gymnastics that follow.

Given the frugal, fiscally conservative attitudes that permeate the city, many diners wonder if bottled water will add extra expense to the bill. Many of them reflexively opt for tap water.

But, others think about Milwaukee's tap water and recall the cryptosporidium outbreak that sickened hundreds of thousands of citizens 15 years ago and ask for the bottle.

Of course, bottled water often comes with ice, the source of which could be tap water. When you strip away the marketing campaigns and packaging and get down to basics, most bottled water is nothing more than purified tap water, anyway. Not only that, plastic bottles are bad for the environment. That makes a case for tap water.

But, diners don't want to look cheap in front of their friends / business associates / dates, etc. So, they'll often ask for the bottle, even though they feel bad about it afterward.

It's enough to make you order a diet soda, lemonade or something with a little more kick. And, it's not going to get easier any time soon.

From California to Boston and everywhere between, restaurants, college campuses and municipalities concerned about the cost, waste and environmental impact of bottled water are making a move toward the tap.

Drinking habits can be hard to break. The bottled water industry generates between $50 and $100 billion a year. According to the U.0.S Environmental Protection Agency, 74 percent of Americans drink bottled water. Most consumers cite convenience, taste and health benefits as the primary motivation for purchasing bottled water.

Critics can point to the heavy cost. A recent Los Angeles Times editorial posited that in 2006, the process of manufacturing 25.5 million water bottles in the United States produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide, consumed about three liters of water for every liter bottled and ran through 17 million barrels of oil. That doesn't include the fuels required to transport bottled waters to consumers.

The Container Recycling Institute reports that in 2005, 52 billion plastic bottles and jugs ended up in landfills or as roadside litter. The National Resources Defense Council claims that bottled water is no safer than tap water and sometimes contains elevated levels of dangerous contaminants, some of which leak from the plastic bottles.

Corporate Accountability International, a nonprofit group based in Boston, has been running a campaign called "Think Outside the Bottle," which is aimed at convincing consumers, companies and municipalities to stop using bottled water.

The International Bottled Water Association disputes the notion that bottled water is unsafe and points to the industry's emphasis on recycling and developing lighter-weight plastics as examples of being proactive.

It's enough to drive a person to drink. What will you have -- bottle or tap?