Drinking water is good for you and it can be good for others, too, if you choose your H2O wisely. Some bottled water companies have decided to share the wealth from the water boom. Founded in 2001 by Peter Thurn, Ethos Water, which is natural bottled spring water, is on a mission to supply children around the world with drinking water. For every Ethos bought, five cents per bottle goes to humanitarian water programs. These programs are dedicated to bringing clean, safe drinking water to communities that lack this basic resource. According to Ethos, more than 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to it. The goal is to raise $10 million by 2010. It is available at Starbucks and Giant Eagle, among other places.

University of Pennsylvania student Ben Lewis, CEO of PurBlu, and some of his friends started a bottled water company when they were in high school. Their concept was to turn consumers of designer water into philanthropists. Give is bottled water that offers shoppers a choice through color coding. You can Give Life (the blue bottle), Give Love (the green bottle) or Give Hope (the pink bottle) and 10 cents of the purchase price will go to the charity represented by the label. Green is for environmental causes, pink is for breast cancer research and blue is to help children in extreme poverty get clean drinking water and other basic necessities. The water is bottled at the source in Laurel Run, Westmoreland County, and is available at Whole Foods, Community Foods and other locations in the region.

Remember March 22 is World Water Day (designated in 1922 by the United Nations).