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Today I was sipping tea in a teahouse when I a strange thought came to my mind: Is there such a thing as organic bottled water? For someone like me who tries to be natural and organic as much as possible, it seemed rather strange that this was something I had never actually considered. But it’s true — I had never thought about it before, and it got me wondering.
Does someone out there in the world claim to make organic bottled water?
To clarify, I’m not asking because I want to drink this potentially mythical beverage. I am a huge believer in filtered tap water (obviously this depends on your region, and what I recommend for my area I cannot necessarily recommend for yours). It’s more a theoretical question, and a strange one in that I couldn’t believe that I honestly had never considered this before.
Needless to say, I pulled out my trusty laptop and began doing some Internet digging. First, I came across a fantastically hysterical picture over at TreeHugger.com entitled, “Are You Kidding Us, Safeway?”
As you can see, apparently Safeway is advertising their “Organic” tap water by claiming these features:
- No antibiotics
- No growth hormones
- No synthetic pesticides
- No genetic modifications
Um, really?
Over at Amazon, things weren’t much better.
When I did a search for “organic bottled water” the top result was something called Kona Deep Sea Mineral Water. It’s advertised as “The Only 100% Organic Electrolyte Rich Bottled Water.” However, I soon saw that it’s been out of stock for rather a long time — with no end in sight;(
Sell out much, Kona? I think not.
My conclusion from all this sleuthing?
Organic Bottled Water doesn’t (really) exist, and I’m glad for that!
What do you think? Do you want the organic bottled water man to make a stop at your door anytime soon?
Have you ever come across Organic Bottled Water?
Ok, your post got me, until I saw the date on it. Organic water?? How ridiculous! But you know, given the abysmal track record manufacturers have for promoting products as “organic” or “natural” and twisting health claims to make their product appear healthier than it really is…you KNOW it is only a matter of time…
Seriously Maura — I mean, I actually “found” two “sort-of” examples already! It is only a matter of time indeed…
This was a very interesting post, as I had never considered the idea of organic water. The only thing is, maybe I misunderstood, but I feel like I’m just not getting the joke. If companies don’t label bottled water as organic, does that not mean that it isn’t organic? And doesn’t that make you wonder what’s in it? The sad thing is, that everything should be organic automatically, but a lot of people think “eating organic” is something special or ritzy, when really it’s what normal food should be. Not only that, but there are very few water companies that even release information about their bottled water, such as where they got it, or what’s in it. So, I really don’t see the absurdity in organic water, (any more than the concept of bottling and selling water in the first place) when I’d really like to know that my water doesn’t have any nasty chemicals in it.
I definitely agree that filtering your own water is the best solution, but if I had to buy water, wouldn’t I want to get the one that’s certified by the USDA as having no harmful chemicals, etc?
I also agree that it’s possible that organic water doesn’t exist, because we’ve been putting harmful chemicals into our environment for so long, and I’m sure they’ve spread into pretty much every water source to some degree. But this poses a problem: if organic water doesn’t exist, does that mean that nothing is organic, because we’re watering supposedly organic plants with water that contains toxins?
Sorry to go on and on. This article really got me thinking!
Also, the Safeway sign is pretty funny, since water obviously can’t be genetically modified, but maybe they put it in the wrong place?
I completely agree. This is one of the most absurd marketing schemes I’ve ever seen. I wrote a post on my eco-blog about organic water, check it out: http://www.BlueGranola.com
Also, what kind of world do we live in that we have to be assured that even water doesn’t have growth hormones in it?