Have You Taken The Bottled Water Taste Test?

Americans love them some bottled water, a fact corporations have not failed to notice. The average American family spends $615 per year on the stuff, with Latinos and blacks being "three times more likely to choose bottled water over the tap for their children." And in some parts of the country where public water is, shall we say, disgusting, that makes sense. But in New York City, home of the bottled and sold champagne of municipal tap waters, the idea of buying the stuff is pretty ludicrous. And now people are doing taste tests to prove it.

To "celebrate" the second anniversary of the Hispanic-targeting Nestlé Pure Life Mercado del Agua in the Bronx, the group Corporate Accountability International is trying to rally Latino leaders to "Think Outisde The Bottle" and avoid buying the stuff. Specifically Pure Life, a product that has been criticized in the past two years for the way it markets to recent immigrants (who often come from places where the tap water isn't so safe).

"Nestlé's marketing creates a false choice between sodas and bottled water and attempts to convince people that the only reliable way to keep your family healthy is bottled water," Oscar Chacón, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), said in a statement. "Today we are standing up to the world's largest food and beverage corporation, banding together to turn the tide on Nestlé's aggressive marketing in our communities."

Beyond outreach, to persuade people that they don't need to buy bottled water the group is hosting water taste tests outside of the Mercado del Agua. And so far the results have been what you would expect: "The Bronx water tasted the best," one Dominican Republic immigrant told the News after taking the test. "I usually buy bottled water at the store because we don’t drink the tap water in my country. Now I realize I should be drinking Bronx water."

Still, it is going to take a whole lot of taste tests to make a dent in the bottled water industry. Last year it was worth $15 billion dollars.