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 2 of 4)
16. 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
17. Distilled water is supposed to be the best kind of water you can drink so if they do a distilling process with these bottled tap waters you are still getting better water with them then with your faucet water. Tap water also contains floride which is bad for you. I would have a distiller or a britta filter system or something like that before I would drink tap water as my main source for water.
Tammy Ashley at 1:25AM on Jul 29th 2007
18. Hey People, bottled water doesn't have chlorine and floride in it. Tap water does. Chlorine bleaches (destroys) beneficial bacteria in your colon, whereupon, you digest your food less efficiently. You eventually get gas and/or tummy grumblings. Floride in large amounts is rat poison. Then there's giardia - oh well, we won't go into that. They're parasites. Just buy a $10 charcoal filter pitcher from Wal-Mart, use it for one year, throw it away, get another one. Clean water: dirt cheap. I have spoken. EBK
Elizabeth Kellett at 7:59AM on Jul 28th 2007
19. 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
20. 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
21. What's in your water? Municipal tap water is not all created the same. Depending on the local contaminants, and the condition of the pipes, you might have all manner of leachate coming out of your tap. I would rather drink something processed a little more, distillation is a good idea for starters. And drinking Deer piss ain't all its cracked up to be for those of you who like spring water.
Marlene at 6:03AM on Jul 28th 2007
22. Dinesh,
I'm not surprised Aquafina is tap water. As they say..let the buyer beware.
Willet at 9:17PM on Jul 27th 2007
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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
26. For most people, bottled water isn't about drinking the better source of water. Crap, people. It's about convenienece and alternatives. When I'm home, I either drink filtered water or distilled water I make myself. Away from home, I buy bottled water instead of soda or other beverages. How am I going to drink tap water while driving 4 hours. And if I want to keep a bottle of water handy, it's not convenient to slurp water at the airport water fountain, especially after that herpes ridden redneck got his lips all over it. I've never assumed that garden variety bottled water was "good" for me, just better than the alternatives.
Biff at 10:03PM on Jul 27th 2007
27. Personally I think Aquafina and Dasani as well as several other bottled waters taste nastier( has a minerally metalic taste ) than my tap water. I do however like the way that the Zephyrhills Bottled water tastes. And since I live in Zephyrhills and know where the water comes from I am willing to buy it rather than drink the chlorinated tasting, slightly gray looking stuff that comes out of my tap. Either way you look at it, the source of the water should be on the label so we are aware of what we are wasting our money on. Thanks for letting me ramble...
Lizzie at 10:30PM on Jul 27th 2007
28. It is not just tap water, sorry.
It has been through a distillation and filtering process and the taste is better. Everytime I drink tap water it tastes like metal particles. It may be just water but I sure taste a difference.
I will stick to my bottled water if its all the same. Bottled water helped me overcome a big, bad Diet Coke habit. I drink a whole lot more water now than I did when I filled a glass of yucky tasting tap water.
Besides, I like my water portable, and filling the same bottle over and over is gross.
If the tap water people enjoy it, great. I know I enjoy my bottled water.
Dawn at 12:19AM on Jul 28th 2007
29. It's not tap water it's toilet water !
Johnny at 12:36AM on Jul 28th 2007
30. I am off to Small Claims court to request re-imbursement of $2,200 spent on what I thought was "Spring Water" Aquifina for the past 3 years and my American Express card bill will prove-up my $2,200 claim!
Anthony at 2:17AM on Jul 28th 2007