Coca-Cola admitted that Dasani water comes from the mains water supply, which has already been paid for by consumers, to its factory where it is "refiltered" and sold back to the public at 95p a bottle.
Coca-Cola launched Dasani in the UK backed by a 拢7m advertising campaign through Lowe & Partners. The brand has already gone on to become the second-biggest bottled water in the US behind Pepsi's Aquafina, and Coca-Cola is branching out by launching flavoured variants.
It was already known that Dasani is not a spring water like Evian or Volvic but is purified water with added minerals. However it has not been revealed before where Coca-Cola gets the water from.
In its defence Coca-Cola said that its filtering process removes impurities from tap water -- a claim that has not pleased Thames Water, which supplies the water to Kent.
Coca-Cola says its filtering process removes chlorine, particles and organic debris. It then says the water enters a stage of what it calls reverse osmosis, which is a technique used by Nasa to purify water in space. Finally calcium, magnesium and sodium bicarbonate are added for taste.
However, Thames Water claims that its tap water already passes 99.92% of quality tests.
A spokesman for Thames Water said: "If the water regulator thought any more treatment was needed they would ask us to do so."
Dasani could have been set to repeat the same success it has achieved in the US and grab a slice of the lucrative bottle water market, which has helped boost flat sales in the soft drink market. Sales of water are expected to contribute growth of 38% to the overall sector in 2004, according to Danone's Bottled Water Report.
Judith Snyder, brand PR manager for Dasani, said: "We would never say tap water isn't drinkable. It's just that Dasani is as pure as water can get. There are different levels of purity."
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