I introduce you to my favorite bottled water. This $6 per bottle water is available in Still and Sparkling form in glass bottles (375ml and 800ml), and Still in PET bottles (330ml, 500ml and 850ml).

This "special" water comes all the way from Norway.
Apparently this bottled water has an amazing taste, and it is so special it has won the best tasting water '07. The bottle was designed by former creative director for Calvin Klein.

Does this water really have a taste to it? And how do we know its actually from Norway? How do we know it's unlike other bottled water companies? Such as Alaskan Bottled water, where the water is actually from a factory in one of the southern states. Is it really worth $6?

Oh why not just spend $6 on bottled water designed by Calvin Klein?

Is water in plastic 'special'? Why do we pay so much for bottled water?

Ever since plastic was invented during the world wars, companies have been trying to make a buck off selling water in bottles. This $4/L ‘special’ water is rumoured to taste better than your everyday tap water. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for something that they can get from multiple sources for free; at home, at the park, at the mall, at school, etc.

‘Special’ water coming from the remote Yaqara Valley of Viti Levu comes at a hefty price. The consumer market says that this water tastes better. Clearer and said to have a sharper taste. The fact of the matter is that the average person can’t tell the difference between NYC tap water out of your everyday green garden hose, and some special water with an Amazonian spider at the bottom that supposedly makes the water better. I personally don’t want to drink spider. Both Coke and Pepsi have caught on and realized the market and launched the Dasani and Aquafina branded water. The average profit margin for a bottle of water is 50-100%. As Penn and Teller showed, the facilities for both these companies are in American suburbs and cities bottling the local tap water and sending it everywhere. Even locally a company tried to start up (didn’t last very long) bottling the tap water that is supposedly in the top 10 in North America with the Drinka brand. Not a bad way to create a lot of quick income. This bottled tap water is shipped out to 7-Elevens all over the continent, and people actually buy it. Sure, they may argue it’s ‘more convenient’ but reusable water bottles do exist for a reason. Literally tons of recyclable plastic is thrown in landfills each year. The US alone uses 1500 plastic bottles a second. Per second! All of this unnecessary waste is polluting our earth, when a Nalgene bottle with just as good tap water will save the planet and you money. The average 1L Nalgene bottle costs around $10. If you buy only 5 1L bottles of generic corner store water, the bottle has paid for itself and you have an infinite number of uses after the first 5 bottles of Dasani.

Water is a valuable resource that is thankfully plentiful in North America. Even though you can get perfectly good water out of your hose, society feels a need to buy ‘special’ water that really isn’t that special. The bottled water comes out of the same pipes as your home sink. Why pay so much more?