Aquafina Admits It's Just Tap Water: Facts

Story:

Aquafina Admits It’s Just Tap Water.

We’re paying 2,000 times more for bottled versions of the same water you’d take a bath in.

Analysis:

The story shared widely online comes with what appears like a public health warning stating that the well-known bottled water company Aquafina admits it’s just Tap Water, and that we are paying 2,000 times more for the bottled versions of the same water we would take a bath in. No, the claims as such are not facts.

Origin of Claims

The claims in question originated from a 1st September 2015 article on the website inverse.com with the title saying ‘Aquafina Admits It’s Just Tap Water,’ and the rest of the story as its sub heading. The article mentions – an old ABC News article abcnews.go.com – that reported Aquafina changed its labels to specify P.W.S. as Public Water Source, under pressure from Accountability International.

Facts

As a matter of fact, the old ABC News report only mentioned that Aquafina is going to say it comes from same source as tap water – in the sense that its label “P.W.S.” will spell out “public water source.” That was because of pressure from a U.S. watchdog group called Corporate Accountability International pressing bottled water sellers to curb what it called misleading marketing practices. So it only means Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water; not that it is just tap water that you take bath in, and not that people are paying a much higher price for the same in the form of bottled water. Many bottled water companies like Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani are made from purified water sourced from public reservoirs; very few actually come from exotic sources. So the article on inverse.com is misleading and the story in question a hoax.

Bottling Water Concerns

In recent years there have been concerns about the increasing bottled-water industry, that it adds plastic to landfills, promotes corporate control over water, uses too much energy, and undermines confidence in the safety and cleanliness of public water supplies. Since the business of traditional carbonated sodas has weakened as consumers became aware of its health concerns, those companies have been investing a lot in bottled water industry, while on the other side, much of the world’s population does not have access to clean water. It is because of all these concerns, some governments and organizations around world are encouraging people to drink tap water.