The Bottled Water Lie: Pepsi admits Aquafina from tap water.

[JC Viper]

I was watching the morning news show and there was a new type of water product being sold for a high price. They called it designer water where the company uses the finest water from other countries or so.

I didn't bother to get the brand names cause there's no way I'll pay $75+ for a bottle.

[Texfire]

The one that gets me is Evian. You mean to tell me that someone is taking water from another country, putting it in a bunch of small plastic bottles, crating those bottles, loading them on a ship, and shipping them across the ocean? And people buy it...

Tex

[flynrider]

I don't think "The bottled water lie" is as big as they make it out to be. Most bottled water comes from a tap and says so on the label. Apparently, the "big story" is that they'll now tell you exactly whose tap it comes from.

One thing I found disingenuous is that they make it sound like the bottled water is just poured out of the tap into the bottles. It's not. The water is run through either filters or RO systems to remove local impurities (like particulates and large amounts of chlorine in some areas).

Personally, I think bottled water is silly. My own tap water here in Phoenix tastes pretty bad (lots of chlorine), but I just run it through a filter at the tap. Costs me about $40/yr.

I remember the original "bottled water lie" back in the early 80s. Back then, Perrier was still claiming that their water came from a naturally carbonated spring in France. Some ingenious fellow did the math and figured out that the quantity of water that Perrier shipped worldwide would require a "spring" roughly the size of the Mississippi river.

Another bottled water favorite are the brands that claim to come from glaciers. This just cracks me up. If you've ever seen glacier water, you wouldn't want to drink it. It looks like watered down milk.

[Nibblet99]

I seem to remember desani failed over here before it was even put on sale....

We do have legitimate spring water here - Malvern and Buxton to name a couple - modified tap water didn't stand a chance

[Ian522]

I dont care where it comes from, it tastes a hell of alot better than nasty tap water and thats why I either buy bottled water or use the brita filter at home.

[Apollofrost]

I've had fresh spring water and it tastes great after a long hike. The stuff in bottles doesn't even come close.

As for water filters, my dad used to have a British Bekfeild military filter that worked pretty well and now I just use the filter attached to my fridge.

[Texfire]

It just ironic because alot of people who consider themselves ecologically conscious won't hesitate to buy water that's sold in plastic bottles rather than drink water that comes out of their tap. I do drink water from a bottle, but after the initial purchase I refill the bottles from a Brita filter I have. That way I have the convenience of the bottle, recycle it in a meaningful manner by reusing the container, and have filtered water to drink.

I like the theory that the whole purpose of humanity is the world decided it needed plastic and styrofoam. Now that it has it we're redundant.

Tex