Aquafina, PepsiCo’s best-selling bottled water, is changing its label to clarify its true source: city water supplies. The labels have never claimed to be spring water, but the price, packaging, and placement in stores apparently made enough of the world believe it was.
A group called Corporate Accountability International has been pressuring bottled water sellers to curb what it calls misleading marketing practices. The group has criticized PepsiCo over its blue Aquafina label with a mountain logo as perpetuating the misconception that the water comes from spring sources.
Aquafina is the single biggest bottled water brand, and its bottles are now labeled “P.W.S.” The new labels will spell out “public water source.”
So they still avoid the T word — tap — and “public water source” is still somewhat vague. (Someone might think the water comes from a public spring or well? Maybe?)
$11 billion of bottled water — combining spring water and purified tap water — was sold last year in the U.S. alone.
Aquafina Labels To Show Source: Tap Water [CBS News]
(Photo: gordasm)
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@Antediluvian: As your google linkage indicates, there’s hardly a consensus on the potential negative effects of various chemicals in the different types of plastic on humans. There’s certainly not enough evidence for this to qualify as an urban legend, either way.
I work in the plastics industry, and personally drink from polycarbonate (trade name: Lexan) water bottle, although I used to buy Aquafina bottles (due to their wide mouth, which I prefer) to re-use/wash/re-use for weeks. I still don’t feel completely safe about either type of plastic, after reading various articles promoting and/or dispelling the “myth” of chemicals leaching into the water after repeated uses.
Needless to say, it’s a valid concern in my opinion as no clear consensus has been established on either side of the issue.
@gamabunta:
That’s ok because I like the taste. I’m not one to read the label. I do have to say that it has been a few months since I have had a Dasani….I don’t want to spend $1.18 on a 20oz. bottle of water. So it has been awhile since I bought Dasani.
I did buy a 5 gallon jug of Ozarka water so I can reuse with my tap water. I like it and my kids like it and it has a convient spout at the bottom for the water to come out. Good old cold tap water.
Aquafina is taken from 11 different municipal water supplies because they sell about 800 million dollars worth a year, one source could not handle that volume. The water costs them from fractions of a penny to about 3 pennies per gallon. In 1997 sales jumped more than 126%. Why you say? Because of the marketing power of Pepsi and NOTHING else. Here is the definition of purified water.
Water taken from lakes, rivers, or underground springs that has undergone some form of treatment. It can be produced by “distilation, deionisation, reverse osmosis or other suitable processes”. It can be chemically treated in order to have some components disappear. Waters with different components can be mixed. Considering the way it is produced, there is LITTLE DIFFERENCE between PURIFIED WATER and MUNICIPAL TAP water except in the DISTRIBUTION METHOD and RETAIL PRICE.
You may take a deep breath now and exhale.
Aquafina is taken from 11 different municipal water supplies because they sell about 800 million dollars worth a year, one source could not handle that volume.
The water costs them from fractions of a penny to about 3 pennies per gallon. In 1997 sales jumped more than 126%. Why you say? Because of the marketing power of Pepsi and NOTHING else.
Here is the definition of purified water.
Water taken from lakes, rivers, or underground springs that has undergone some form of treatment. It can be produced by “distilation, deionisation, reverse osmosis or other suitable processes”. It can be chemically treated in order to have some components disappear. Waters with different components can be mixed. Considering the way it is produced, there is LITTLE DIFFERENCE between PURIFIED WATER and MUNICIPAL TAP water except in the DISTRIBUTION METHOD and RETAIL PRICE.
You may take a deep breath now and exhale.
Sorry, first post did not go through for 5 minutes so I reposted. Jet lag?
I’m going to get a Berkey water filter as soon as I can afford it. It is supposedly so good that it can filter pond water. Also, you can get a filter that filters out the flouride. Meanwhile, I just use my Brita water pitcher and make do. But I am not paying for bottled tap water.
@jrdnjstn78:
In early 2004, Coca-Cola launched its Dasani brand of bottled water in Britain. Dasani had already established itself as one of the most popular bottled waters in the United States.
Within weeks, however, Coke had a disaster in the making. The British press discovered that Dasani was nothing more than processed tap water and ran a series of indignant stories suggesting that consumers were being hoodwinked by the U.S. beverage giant.
Shortly afterward, a cancer-causing chemical — bromate — was discovered in Dasani bottles produced in Britain. The water was quickly withdrawn from store shelves and plans were canceled to market Dasani elsewhere in Europe, which to this day remains a Dasani-free zone.
Aquafina=Dasani
In San Francisco, city officials collected nearly 34,000 samples from the water supply in 2005 and ran more than 100,000 water-quality tests. “All compliance monitoring results met or exceeded federal and state drinking water regulations,” the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission reported.
That same year, the commission held a blind taste test near the Ferry Building. The 300 participants were offered samples of two popular bottled-water brands (Crystal Geyser and AQUIFINA) and local tap water.
Half said they preferred the tap water. Twenty-five percent picked bottled water. And 25 percent said they couldn’t tell the difference.
Coke did the same thing in England with their bottled water. It’s not being sold here anymore and they lost a crap load of money on it.
Say no more.
Althought it seems blueskylaw already did say more about it above.
Where I live, there is an inland desalination plant to create drinking water. But they still mix the treated water with a bit of the well water, making for a nasty mix–it tastes metallic and salty. Bottled water FTW!