People will buy anything! Set up a stand near Central Park in New York and offer people bags of "fresh air from the Alps" and you are sure to find suckers willing to pay you a few bucks for it.
Somehow in the last few years our family has joined the national trend of people purchasing water. Last year sales of bottled water were in excess of 2.6 billion cases costing around $15 billion. I'm sure my parents would laugh at the idea, and future generations will probably also guffaw at the stupidity of it. But today we all seem convinced that bottled water is somehow better than tap water. Evian. Perrier. Pellegrino. How ravishing it seems to be drinking water not from the good old faucet but from some Elysian spring in the French mountains or the Italian countryside, untouched by technology and grubby human hands. Of course we never think of what happens to that water as it gets bottled and stored and transported over thousands of miles. We don't think of botled water as water that someone got from some unidentified rivulet several weeks ago.
Now Aquafina has exposed our illusion that bottled water comes from a more elevated source than tap water by revealing that its bottled water is, in fact, drawn from tap water. A spokesman for the company says Aquafina botles will in future "clarify" this fact for discerning bottle readers. Yet industry observers say that the new revelation shouldn't make much of a difference. "Consumers have an affection for bottled water," writers John Sicher of Beverage Digest. "It's not an issue of taste or health, it's about convenience." I find this to be a ridiculous statement. Why on earth would people buy bottled water at the airport, for example, when there are water fountains outside every restroom? I suspect that if people know they were getting pretty much the same thing in the bottle, they would start to feel very foolish.
As for me, no more Aquafina. I'm going back to Chardonnay.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 4)
1. I rarely agree with Dinesh, but on this one he is right on the money. Bottled water is, for the most part, a rip off. Especially if the tap water in your area is just fine..and in most cities it is.
Until I see proof otherwise, I will continue to drink tap water.
David S. at 6:02PM on Jul 27th 2007
2. I don't think this will even affect sales. It's not about content, it's packaging and distribution. Look, don't we all gladly stand in line to pay 7 bucks for a quarter's worth of popcorn at the movies? Hey, maybe we like those buckets!
Yes, I think the average American will happily pay for a meaningless name. I don't know if that's dumb or not.
michael white at 6:06PM on Jul 27th 2007
3. I won't buy bottled water for the home, but using public water fountains grosses me out. Too many strange drug resistant viruses out there that seem to be breeding at a quick pace.
goike at 6:19PM on Jul 27th 2007
4. My tap water tastes better than any bottled water, hands down. I have a plastic bottle that I refill with my tap water and keep in the fridge. People that think bottled water is "healthier" are kidding themselves. IT'S WATER.
They'll bitch about spending $3.00 a gallon for gas, but they'll spend upwards of $12.00 a gallon for WATER that they could get right out of the faucet.
Kat at 6:34PM on Jul 27th 2007
5. haha, in regards to Kat, your a bit of a moron. Water is just water? Go ahead and tell that to the thousands of people that died (1 in 2) of cholera in London just 150 years ago. Or go ahead and go to Tijuana, Mexico where the water is so green you could get diarrhea from drinking a spoonful of it! Here in Orlando, i have some of the worst tasting tap water ever! I personally buy aquafina, and will continue buying aquafina no matter that they found out its tap water. ANY tap water is better than what is here in Orlando. In fact, i decided to do a blind test with ten of my friends after hearing about aquafina using tap water, and not one of them thought it tasted the same. All 10 of my friends said the orlando tap water tasted like sewer, while aquafina tasted fresh. I'm not saying the tap water has germ, or is somehow diseased... but in orlando, the city tap water tastes like a used toilet.
Dan at 6:43PM on Jul 27th 2007
6. Have to disagree. Spring water is usually labeled "spring water" and I would hope people would not think something was spring water just because it had a mountain on the label... Tap water in most municipal systems is treated to remove many things (pathogens, e-coli)but it is NOT treated to remove all possible contaminants that can be found in US water sources (pharmaceuticals, arsenic metals, PAHs. People drink purified water because they don't want all the stuff that your municipal system is not yet required to track or remove. Spring water is not guaranteed to be clean either.
meg anden at 6:46PM on Jul 27th 2007
7. It is well known that Dasani (a coke product) is tap water and now aquafina (pepsi product) admits to the same. There is a difference between these bottled waters and tap water. They are distilled and purified thus eliminating the chlorine and local water bad taste. Is it worth the money? You decide. I use filtered tap water and it does the same thing that bottled water does at a fraction of the cost.
Rohit at 6:54PM on Jul 27th 2007
8. While I generally do drink tap water filtered through our fridge at home, I will buy bottled water for convenience...to include at the airport. Why? Even though there are water fountains everywhere? Because I want something to drink on the plane, and I don't want to have to wait for the flight attendants to finally get to me before quenching my thirst! It also comes in handy when traveling in the car or while at the gym. I probably buy, on average, 2 or 3 bottles of water per week, so I don't think that's too bad, and will continue to do so as it conveniences me.
Smurph2406 at 7:34PM on Jul 27th 2007
9. The value to me is the delay caused by the bottling & shipping that does not occur when drinking water from a faucet. If the water is compromised by contamination, there will be a recall on the bottled product that may save your life. Besides, it's chilled when you buy it on the run. Spring water only, I might add. Always read the source.
David at 8:42PM on Jul 27th 2007
10. Pepsico Inc. has hired Ward Churchill as spokesperson for the Aquafina product. This is an exerpt from a recent press conference:
Q: Is it true that Aquifina comes from tap water?
Ward: That is a racist diversion from the nature of the issue.
Q: How is it racist?
Ward: Would you ask if George Bush is white?
Q: Should not consumers know if Aquifina is tap water?
Ward: That's an irrelevant question. It is self-evident what Aquifina is.
Q: But other companies such as Avian are questioning the validity of Aquafina's purity?
Ward: Does water need a federal pedigree slip for it to be 'pure'? What is the criteria? There are 3 criterias. 1)self idenifcation. Aquafina has clearly identified itself as being 'pure'. 2)community recgonition. People all over the world know us as being pure. 3)Aquafina is the official water for the Werdafucami tribe from lower East L.A. Check your facts before you come hassling us. This interview is over.
J. Spalding at 8:45PM on Jul 27th 2007
11. I buy Aquafina 1 liter bottles at the dollar store from time to time at a dollar apiece. I freeze them and then let them thaw out as the day goes on. When they're empty, I wash them out with liquid soap and hot water and refill them from my filtered water. Actually, all I really want are the bottles so I can fill them. And I like the convenience of carrying them around so I don't have to go looking for water. I keep them in a miniature golf bag so no one questions me.
I usually keep a supply of about 16 bottles in the freezer. The frozen bottles are also good for foot injuries. I'll put 2 frozen bottles and sufficient water in a container and soak my foot in it to help ease the pain. I intend to keep right on buying them.
Donald R. Mack at 8:45PM on Jul 27th 2007
12. Dinesh,
I'm not surprised Aquafina is tap water. As they say..let the buyer beware.
Willet at 9:17PM on Jul 27th 2007
13. With filters out like Brita and so many other luxuries, bottled water is silly to buy in excess. The only time I could see it a necessity is when the tap water in your city is terrible. My mother's town was notified not to drink it due to higher levels of radium. They went as far as to say it wasn't safe for regular drinking water. Now again this is an extreme case. I think brita filters and even the filters on your fridge are more than sufficient. Most cities put plenty of chemicals that seem stronger than a swimming pool in the tap water to kill off bacteria.
This is not the first bottled water company to be ousted. I recall it to be Ice Mountain a branch of Perrier. I apologize if I am wrong on the brand. They were using water out of Lake Michigan.
E at 9:21PM on Jul 27th 2007
14. Well, if Standford University can fool some people with an idiot like Dinesh, it's no wonder Pepsi can hoodwink people with tap water.
Just as with Tap Water, advertising obviously goes a long way in academia...
Bill at 9:36PM on Jul 27th 2007
15. Yes, it starts as tap water. But Pepsi (who makes the stuff) and Coke (Dasani water) filters the stuff thru 0.1 micron filters, ozonates it, and adds trace amounts of minerals for taste. It's not distilled by the way.
Aquafina and Dasani, my friends, aren't tap water anymore. They are in fact processed products.
Road-wearier at 10:02PM on Jul 27th 2007