How can you tell whether the bottled water you're drinking is something special or just processed tap water? The easy way to find out is just by reading the label.

Ninety-two per cent of the bottled water for sale in Canada comes from underground sources. The words "spring water" or "mineral water" on the label tell you so.

Nestle Canada spokesman John Challinor says if it doesn't say either then it's filtered tap water.

Other words such as "ozonated" or "ozonized" refer to purification. By law, all bottled water has to be purified – no matter where it comes from.

In the case of Nestle Waters, the water starts up in the mountains and takes 50 years to work its way into the underground aquifer, 50 metres below the plant.

When it's pumped to the surface it goes through a three-stage non-chemical process. The spring water is filtered, treated with ultraviolet light and finally ozone. Then it's bottled and capped.

A photograph of each bottle is taken. The bottles are time stamped, date stamped and then packaged.

The bottled water industry is sensitive to the backlash against bottled water, but it says the issue isn't bottled versus tap.

"Ninety-five per cent of people who drink bottle water today came from other bottled beverages. They were consuming soft drinks, or sweetened juices, coffee, tea or milk," Challinor said.

And 70 per cent of bottled water drinkers drink tap water when they are at home.

At the Nestle Waters plant they make their own bottles to save 20,000 truckloads of empty bottles.

The bottles are 60 per cent lighter than 10 years ago. "It's also a benefit for us in terms of the cost of the business. It costs obviously less to produce the bottle, but it also is environmentally a better bottle," Challinor said.

They are so light they move down the conveyor by air pressure alone. Nestle has developed a 100 per cent recycled bottle that's used in the Monstclair product, and hopes to have all its bottles made of recycled plastic in 10 years or so.

If you drink bottled water or any bottled beverage, you have an obligation to make sure it goes into a blue box – or to take it back for a refund.

Right now, 75 per cent of bottles are recycled – and there is no reason why consumers can't make it 100 per cent.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen