March 03, 2004

Bottled water actually tap water. Coca-Cola admits that its Dasani brand of bottled water is, in the UK, made from tap water in Kent. UK water groups are in arms over the implications for plain tap water, and, hopefully, consumers will be as well, since filtered tap water and filtered source water are different products and probably shouldn't be marketed as interchangeable. The interesting spin on this (not terribly well-reported) story is that it also broke in Canada in July, 2002. How is it that their other production facilities weren't questioned? What about the point made in the Canadian article - does this use of municipal water supplies tax the system, and how is Coke remunerating the city? And how did no one ever notice that an urban production facility would need to have their water brought in from an outside source?

I say not terribly well-reported because I couldn't find any mention of it on either the CNN or CBC website, only UK sites. A bit odd, since one would now wonder what water they use for their U.S. product.

posted by livii 20 years ago
  • IMO, if you're stupid enough to pay what Coke charges for water in a plastic bottle, you deserve to be screwed. And besides, most of the customers in their target demographic are also swilling down giant cups of flavoured hot milkshakes from Starbucks, and guess where their water comes from?
  • I researched this last year: all the Nestle waters are simply industrial tap water. Aquafina and Dasani are filtered tap water (so if you don't have a filter they are an improvement). I find Aquafina to be the best of all the cheaper bottled waters I have tasted. Evian is apparently still natural, and I think it has the best taste and texture, although it is too expensive for me at the moment!
  • dasani tastes good. It still costs too much, but admittedly does taste good. They add salt and some other things in it i believe.
  • I'm reminded of the W.C. Field's quote where a reporter asked him if he drank water. "No. Fish fuck in it."
  • i thought this was pretty common knowledge here in the states. i know i used to tease a girl at work about dasani back in 2000. recently there was a feature in our local paper laying out what bottled tap water costs per gallon. take a swig. do the math. then close your stunned, gaping mouth, that's damn near liquid gold you're dribbling all over your shirt!
  • ah, gee, this is a pertinent aside: nestle opened a plant a few miles north of here several years ago, smack in the middle of a chain of lakes, rivers and streams, an area of resorts and waterfront living, an area defined by and reliant upon it's aquifer. they promptly began to suck 400 gallons of water out of the ground every minute. this was for nestle's "ice mountain" brand "spring water" (now why would you need to suck spring water out of the ground? doesn't spring water "spring" from the ground all by itself? apparently, under some federal law, this particular groundwater can legally be marketed as spring water!). not inclined to sit by and watch the lake levels drop, a citizens group sued nestle. after trial, a circuit judge ordered them to cease pumping. the fireworks are far from over, and the show is making for some strange bedfellows. but i ramble: where nestle is concerned, apparently no water sold is quite what they say it is.
  • Remember: Dasani spelled backwards is In A Sad. No, wait. It's Evian that's funny...
  • "Drink from the tap and take what's coming to you." --Ralph Steadman
  • "Evian" is an anagram of "Nivea". Coincidence? Yes.
  • I've always had a great fascination with the whole "bottled water" concept. People bottling what is in some areas just regular tap water and selling it back for a price. I think it's just great. I guess I should feel like I'm getting screwed over, but seriously I can't help but laugh sometimes.
  • You know, if you take someelse's used water bottle (why pay for anything), wash it and fill it with tap water, you can have your own Dasani! Not to mention that it just might be safer. (also here and more info here).
  • I'm a brita kid myself. And this IS pretty much common knowledge in the states, but Americans are united under the principle that anything you can turn a buck on is gonna be fair game so we don't much care.
  • Isn't this an only fool's and horses episode? We obviously don't get Dasani here in the UK (seems a strange name for Kentish water), but I'm curious whether the Flouride is still in it or is that filtered out?
  • parents, remember: don't give your kids only bottled water, it has no flouride. their little teeth need flouride! the preceding public service announcement brought to you by SideDish.
  • My own personal experience -- in July 1999 my wife and I participated in a atmospheric research project in southwest Arizona. The vans we took out there were loaded up with several cases of Dasani water. Most of the bottles in all of the cases had some white residue floating in them, kind of like lime, and so we ended up dumping them. This made me rethink a lot of my conceptions about bottled water, especially from a behemoth like Coca-Cola.
  • I'd imagine that sediment is dissolved chalk from the South Downs as I used to live near there - won't do you any harm.
  • The only shocking thing I see in the story is that the English are suprised that bottled water is purified tap. Well duh.
  • We English love a little outrage, though, Keith Talent. Keeps us happy. Well, angry.
  • Yeah, but you've got Bush's lap dog to vent on. Why worry about the water?
  • Just to give one argument from the other side, in places much like where I live the water is disgusting. People have been fired over it. But I still say a Brita filter is much cheaper for the money. It's just important to know that most of the time it's tap water purified from places that don't have as many water problems as my town does.
  • Seems as good a time to mention Desani as any.
  • Not only is this common knowledge (I thought), the bottles are clearly labelled as to what type of water it is. All the filtered tap waters say "filtered" and you can't call it spring water unless it meets certain requirements (which apparently aren't that strict). The better waters will tell you the specific type and location of the source. I remember reading some controversy about Poland Spring some time ago, but I can't remember what it was all about. I've only ever paid for Volvic*. Evian has too much of a mineral aftertaste. I also lived in NYC for most of my life, which has the purest tap water in the United States (can't find the rankings right now), and is actually better than many of the bottled waters. Anyway. Water. Yeah. *My sister once gave me a case of Volvic for my birthday, and I was happy about it.
  • I'm assuming spunk means something different in America
  • yeah dng, that made wonkette yesterday. And it means what you think it does. Someone got fired there.
  • Considering early modern ideas about elements and the body, the two meanings of spunk could have once been directly related, as your dictionary link mentions wood that catches fire easily, thus a man of spirit or spunk. Anyone up on 16th cen theories of the way elements worked in the male body?
  • Have some more Dasani.
  • Coke recalls controversial water Coca-Cola is to recall all bottles of its Dasani water in the UK, after levels of bromate were found to exceed legal levels This sounds like an excellent product.
  • anyone seen this yet?