Water loads: Weight v. Efficiency

Knowing that water is, for the most part, very plentiful on the AT, there have been many discussions conducted and advise given on the amount of water a hiker on the AT should probably carry. There seems to be two major camps on the topic: "I carry one liter because there is water every "X" miles and I don't want to carry the extra weight", and "I carry more than one liter because you never know."

Both of these sides of the same coin have value and surely no one can go wrong either way. As with every question asked about the "best" way to hike the trail, the answer is always "It depends."

I am particularly interested in examining the relationship between the time spent refilling water bottles when only one bottle is carried v. the weight cost of filling and carrying multiple water bottles. While only carrying one bottle saves on weight, carrying two bottles means hiking twice as far before having to stop to refill. And vice versa.

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.