According to most health experts, especially my grandma, you are supposed to drink at least eight glasses of water a day. Now, I don't know about you, but one glass of water seems like a lot, much less eight. Water, at its best, has no taste, and in reality most water tastes like it was drained from a pool. How is one supposed to choke down eight glasses a day? We all know that drinking water not only keeps your insides healthy, but it also makes your skin look better. But, to actually drink 64 ounces of water in one day makes all those perks start to disappear, not to mention its major side effect; peeing.
When you think of water what comes into mind? Water is the simplest form of refreshment there is. It has no coloring, no real taste, no calories, no nothing. So does that make all water the same? According to the companies that are trying to sell their product, no. Each company promises the perfect drink. Some claim to be super oxygenated; some to be mountain fresh; others are minerally enhanced, and of course purity is guaranteed.
Bottled water has become a new craze. Everywhere you go you can find them: gas station, Wal-Mart, coffee shop, bookstore, or your average mom and pop store. With each new water company trying to out do the others with claims of being the best, healthiest, and freshest water out there, it is getting harder to find the best one for your money. One could become frazzled searching through the varieties. Each new company tries to out do the competition with more appealing bottles, catchier slogans. So, in order to help out any of those health seeking high schoolers, we have decided to a variety of different bottled waters. We are testing under the criteria of convenience, water hardness, taste, refreshness, and of course, appearance. The combination of these tests will leave us with the perfect H2O.
The Selection-
One of the more popular companies, who can be seen in a variety of television commercials, is Dasani. Dasani comes is a blue tinted bottle making the water appear cleaner and more refreshing. Basically, just makes you want to drink it. It claims to be "filtered for purity" and "enhanced with minerals." It also states that it's "water-pure and simple."
Another very fashionable water is Evian. It has not only been advertised in some of the world's most popular magazines such as Seventeen, but has cameo appearances in a number of movies. Evian's bottle claims that their water comes straight from the French Alps, and claims to be "Untouched by man, perfect by nature."
O2 is our athletic water. What sets it apart from the others is it claims to have seven times the amount of oxygen found in other bottled waters. Its cover is adorned with pictures of bikers, skaters and other athletes.
The next water we chose to test was Dannon because it is a name we already know and trust thanks to their variety of yogurts. They state that they never bottled "Purified drinking water" or "Artificially purified municipal tap water." In bold letters it states that Dannon is only "Natural spring water."
We also got a generic Food Club water. This water has nothing that really sets it apart from the rest. Like Dannon, it claims to be naturally pure. However it doesn't have a special story like Evian. Food Club embarrassingly states that it is from Montana.
Aquafina is a rather popular brand. It claims to be crisp, refreshing and guarantees its purity. It comes in a clear bottle with a blue label, simple yet attractive.
Arrowhead is another water that claims to be "Mountain spring water." This water comes from California is another sports friendly water which offers a different fitness tip on every bottle. The plastic is very thin and the label is red and green, which enhance its desirability.
Deep Rock is another name we feel we can trust. Its been bottling water since 1896 and not only offer bottled water in a 1 liter size, but it also comes in five gallon jugs. Their label has a raindrop look, which makes it appear natural.
Rimrock's is another average bottled water. On its label is a picture of the Arizona desert. It claims to be "bottled at the source" and to be "naturally pure limestone aquifer."
Fiji "natural artesian water" has flowers on the label and a picture of a waterfall making it seem like a jungle oasis. It also claims to be bottled at the source and has an entire paragraph describing its origin. Fiji water seems very exotic. It claims to be born, "deep beneath volcanic highlands and pristine tropical forest."
The Testing Phase
The testing of bottled water came in a series of steps. In the areas where we felt a benchmark was necessary, we compared the various bottled waters to that of Hotchkiss tap water. Here are the criteria we tested for in our bottled water.
The Bottle &endash; The bottle is more than just the container of which you purchase your water, it is the show case of the product you desire. This portion of testing dealt with what your ideal "show case" of water would be along with the convenience the cap may bring.
Appearance- The appearance of the bottle is important when standing in front of a plethora of choices. Between the shape of the bottle, indentations in the plastic, and pictures on the wrapping, there is much to take into account while judging the appearance of a mere bottle. In this test we asked students if they were buying water, which water would they chose first due to appearance as well as the rest of the waters accordingly.
Cap- For some, a squirt cap is seen as convenient and therefore is favored, but others prefer a cap that must be removed. Students were asked which they felt was better.
These were the main focus in our first portion of testing. We questioned ten different students to see how they felt on both issues (See Appendix 1).
Cost- In the society we live in today, price of a certain item is always a concern. In order to address this concern, we did a simple price per quart comparison.
Hardness- In water, the level of mineral content (milligrams of mineral per liter of water-mg/l) determines the water's hardness. According to watershed.net, good healthy water has a hardness level of at least 170 mg/l. Water that has a low hardness level was said, according to their sources, to be related to incidences of cardiovascular disease. Using hardness test strips, we tested our various bottled waters to see where they ranged on the hardness scale and compared their results to Hotchkiss tap water.
Taste- The ten various bottled waters along with Hotchkiss tap water were placed in cups and arranged in no particular order to allow for unbiased results in the testing. The taste-testing portion was three fold.
Presence of Chemicals- Testers were asked if they tasted the presence of chemicals while drinking the water.
Refreshing?- Testers were asked if the water they tested was refreshing and were asked to rate this "refreshness" on a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being the best.
Overall Taste- Testers were asked to rate the overall taste of the water from a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being wonderful and 1 being pond scum!
Each tester went through these three criteria of testing for each of the eleven waters they tested (See Appendix 2).
The Results
The Bottle- The results to this water bottle pagent were as follows.
After adding up the scores given to the bottled water on Appearance, we found the average for each water and then according to these average ranked them on their appearance according to the scores (1 being the first choice). Here were our results:
|
Water |
Rank in Appearance |
|
Fiji |
1 |
|
Dasani |
2 |
|
Dannon |
3 |
|
Rim Rock |
4 |
|
Evian |
5 |
|
Aquafina |
6 |
|
O2 |
7 |
|
Deep Rock |
8 |
|
Arrowhead |
9 |
|
Food Club |
10 |
Fiji topped the ranks with a most appealing mark from every student tested. Disani placed second almost every time. The others were ranked variously throughout the scale.
Out of the ten asked regarding their preference in caps, most agreed that the removable cap was better. As one tester said, "The removable cap lets you keep the lid tight; there isn't any need to worry when you throw it in your bag." This was our overall results:
Cost- In our basic price comparison, this is how they fared:
|
Waters |
Evian |
Arrowhead |
Dasani |
Deep Rock |
Rimrock |
Aquafina |
Food Club |
Dannon |
Fiji |
O2 |
|
Price/quart |
$1.70 |
$0.79 |
$1.32 |
$0.94 |
$0.94 |
$1.22 |
$0.56 |
$0.82 |
$1.32 |
$1.58 |
Hardness- The waters that were tested displayed a variety in the area of hardness. Compared to Hotchkiss Tap water these are our results:
|
Water |
Evian |
Arrowhead |
Dasani |
Deep Rock |
Rimrock |
Tap water |
Aquafina |
Food Club |
Dannon |
Fiji |
O2 |
|
hardness- mg/l |
250 |
120 |
25 |
25 |
250 |
185 |
25 |
250 |
185 |
120 |
120 |
Taste- The taste portion of our testing brought about some interesting results. These results, however, where pretty consistent. Here are the results broken down into their three categories.
The presence of chemicals test allowed us to see one of the advantages of bottled water over tap water. In tap water, nearly every student tasted chemicals present whereas in the bottled waters, the results are split. Here are the results for all eleven waters tested:
Despite the presents of chemicals in the waters the scores for the "refreshness" test were middle of the road. On the same scale of 1 to 10, here were our results:
The results to the overall taste test were a near mirror image to the "refreshness" test. On the same 1 to 10 scale, here were the results of the taste test:
Overall Results- Out of all ten bottled waters tested, it appears that Dannon could be considered the best. Dannon placed third in the appearance test and has a removable cap, which was favored by most people tested. Dannon's hardness test showed that is was moderate to moderately high on the hardness scale pointing out the fact that is a healthy water full of minerals. Not only is it healthy, but it scored the best in the taste test in all three catagories. Dannon is also economically priced compared to some of its competitors which were up to $0.75 more per quart. Dasani also scored well, but is relatively soft in the hardness scale and has a tendency to be rather pricey. Compared to tap water, Rimrock, Aquafina and Food Club brands simply couldn't cut it. Dannon may be paradise, but they are our ultimate pond scum!
Appendix 1
Bottled Water Testing
1. Do you prefer a squirt cap or a cap that must be removed? ___________________
2. Please rank these bottles in order of most appealing to least appealing.
Aquafina___ Arrowhead___ Dannon___ Dasani___ Deep Rock___
Evian___ Fiji__ Food Club___ O2___ Rim Rock ___
Appendix 2
Bottled Water Taste Test
1.Do you taste any chemicals in the bottled water you just tasted? ________
2.On a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being best) rate how refreshing the water was. _______
3.On a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being best) rate the overall taste of the water. _______