The dirty secret about clean water is that regulation of bottled water is weaker than regulation of tap water. And a quarter or more of all bottled-water brands obtain their water from the same place you do–municipal water systems.
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A group called Corporate Accountability International has slammed bottled-water companies, claiming they use advertising to undermine the public’s trust in American tap water. The group continues its nationwide “Think outside the bottle” campaign, which includes blind taste tests of bottled and tap water.
“Across the board, people can’t tell the difference,” said Bryan Hirsch, a spokesman for Corporate Accountability. “Over 1,000 people have taken the test in more than a dozen cities, and the overwhelming sentiment from them is that they’ve been duped.”
The bottled-water industry doesn’t explicitly claim bottled water is healthier or safer than tap water. But its ads will show you images of beautiful people, glaciers, crystal streams and mountain springs to suggest it is. After all, the industry has to find some way to differentiate and sell a liquid that has no color, no smell, virtually no taste and literally falls from the sky.
Tap water might fit your bill better than bottled (Allentown Morning Call, in the Chicago Tribune, via the Squire)
Corporate Accountability International’s “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign
International Bottled Water Association (industry site)
Bottled Water Isn’t Healthier Than Tap, Report Reveals [and is bad for the planet] (National Geographic)
An entire online store devoted to bottled water WOW
The terrifying Aquapod [warning: sound] that is being marketed to little kids (and succeeding, apparently–one of my cousins is hooked on it)
Comic from Toothpaste for Dinner
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