Is Coke's Dasani from Same Source as Tap Water?

Coke certainly isn't "tapped out" so much that it cannot afford the ink to print, "Public Water Source" on its Dasani bottles, argues Gigi Kellett, national campaign director for Think Outside the Bottle.

"If Coke can pay for the ink to write 'crisp, fresh taste' on its Dasani bottles, it can certainly afford to print 'Public Water Source' on its bottles, too...There is no reason Coke cannot meet the bar Pepsi has set by agreeing to give consumers basic information about the source of its water," says Kellett, as reported on a recent press release on prnewswire.

In fact, there is a national day of action being held to ask Coke to disclose its source for water for its Dasani brand bottled water.

The day of action is being led by Corporate Accountability International and its regional partners. Coke has worked to block public knowledge of its water source.

Pepsi, Coke's largest rival company, has recently agreed to print on their Aquafina water bottles the source. Also, Coke is not complying with a request to make public a report the health and quality the same way that public water systems are required to. Last week Consumers International gave a Bad Product award to Dasani, stating the (dis)honor was due to "pushing marketing into the realms of the ridiculous" for packaging water that came from the same source as tap water.

Tony Clarke, director of the Polaris Institute and author of Blue Gold said, "The reality is corporations, like Coke, create a market for their products by casting doubt on the quality of tap water. Bottled water is, in fact, subject to less regulatory scrutiny and, in the case of Dasani, comes from the same source."

The situation of bottled water has been getting much attention of late. Aside from recycling concerns, the companies that sell bottled water have been called upon to answer questions about their product and its source that make many of these companies not want to cooperate. In fact, just last month, October of 2007, mayors, restaurant owners, celebrities, faith groups, students, and national organizations launched the Think Outside the Bottle Pledge.