Last week I wrote a column for an ethical living special of the Saturday Life section of The Journal. In what I thought was a not-hugely-controversial entry, I argued that it would be better for the environment if people stopped buying bottled water and instead just used the tap.

"Less than a quarter of the water bottles bought in this country are recycled," I wrote, "creating huge amounts of rubbish to go to landfill. The manufacture of the plastic for the bottles squanders oil and water, while the water inside the bottles is often crated around the world and creates a huge carbon footprint."

A few days later, however, a letter arrived in our offices from a body called The Natural Hydration Council, taking issue with my column and accusing me of "gesture environmentalism".

Here's an excerpt from it:

"Calls to reject bottled water will result in a negative impact on the nation's health and actually be worse for the environment. People drink bottled water in addition to, not instead of, tap. Over 90% of consumers drink bottled water as an alternative to other soft drinks. If you take it away people do not turn to the tap, they turn to those soft drinks."

Fair enough, I thought. I didn't agree but I'm big enough to allow that I have no divine right to the last word on these matters. I presumed the Natural Hydration Council were some body of medical experts who knew all about de-hydration and existed to keep people healthy.

Only when I googled them, I found that this wasn't the case. The Natural Hydration Council's founders members are, in fact, Danone Waters, Nestlé Waters UK and Highland Spring Ltd, three of the biggest bottled water companies in the country.

Now there's nothing wrong with the bottled water industry having its own lobby group. It's a multi-million pound business that employs thousands of people and it has interests to protect at a time when a growing environmental lobby is attacking them.

But I would have thought a more appropriate name for it would have been something like the British Association of Bottled Water Manufacturers. Either that, or they could have made it a bit more explicit in their letter who they were.

Ho hum.

I'll give the Natural Hydration Council the benefit of the doubt and say that if they can convince me of their argument - producing independent, peer-accredited scientific evidence to back up what they claim in their letter - I'll give £100 to the charity WaterAid.

If they can't - and bearing in mind that they're backed by a multi-million pound industry - perhaps they'll make that donation instead.

Watch this space...