There isn’t anything, on a blazing hot summer day, like a fresh bottle of Aquafina or Dasani… tap water? Yes, that’s right… For those of you who didn’t know what the simply innocent looking “P.W.S” on Aquafina’s water bottle stood for: it’s “Public Water Source” (a.k.a. tap water). Last week PepsiCo announced that the label on its Aquafina brand of bottled water will soon carry the words “public water source”, instead of “P.W.S.”. Coca-cola is being pressured to do the same with its Dasani brand, although currently refusing to do so.

So will Aquafina’s new label have a disastrous effect on its sales? Well, it’s probably inevitable. At least it’s not like it will be to Dasani’s advantage; as it’s water source is being equally exposed to the public as simply “filtered tap water”. Coca-cola defends its stance by saying “We don’t believe that consumers are confused about the source of Dasani water.”

- I think not. There probably has been a lot of confusion, considering the sales of bottled water booming in the recent past. The reason is probably because consumers hold an image of bottled water being fundamentally more clean and safe versus the water provided by the government (the tap). Possibly it is, but definitely not to the extent where consumers will pay up to a 1000 times the price of tap water. Indeed, even with oil prices sky high, a litre of bottled water can cost more than a litre of petrol. And on top of that, there are the environmental costs of transporting bottled water and of manufacturing and disposing of the bottles.

Finally, whether Aquafina and Dasani survive, we are yet to see. But the industry’s past success is definitely an example of the waste inherent in capitalism. This is proof that consumers are manipulated into buying things they ultimately don’t need.

Studies show that tap water is much purer than bottled water - not including those that contain only tap water, which are estimated to 40 percent of the total by volume. (Tested at the plant, before traveling through pipes)