Water v. Water

By Gianna Liantonio

I was at the Staten Island Mall last Saturday with two of my friends. We walked around to a few stores, looked around at clothes and other things when we saw it was getting close to five in the afternoon. We decided to start heading to the food court. My friend Jacqueline said she wanted to get a drink before we went to save money. We went to the Dollar Store and looked at the refrigerator with various kinds of water and other drinks such as soda and iced tea. There were brands such as Poland Springs, Dasani, and Aquafina. I looked at the refrigerator and mentioned that I had been working on an essay about why people choose certain brands of bottled water, and not others. My other friend Dominique said, “You should say Smart Water is the best one.” Jacqueline joked and said, “My top three waters are…,” as she bought a Poland Springs bottle and we walked to the food court. 

There are numerous brands of water, and everyone has their views on which one is the best one but no one knows which one is the best except for which is the one they themselves enjoy the most—which is not helpful for anyone else but themselves. In 1845, Poland Springs became the first official brand of water. By 2012, there were 195 brands. That’s a lot. Poland Springs, Aquafina, Dasani, Fiji, Smart Water, Deer Park, and some people haven’t heard of like: Mountain Valley, Icelandic Glacier, Arrowhead Water and Dejà Blue. Fiji ranked number one. The company notes that the water gets bottled at the source and untouched. Nicole Kidman and Justin Timberlake have noted that Fiji is their favorite brand to drink. Voss ranked number one on a blog written by Svalbardi. Dwane Johnson signed a brand ambassador contract with them and noted that he drinks it when he works out. Kim Kardasian showed her praise for the brand when she filmed her five refrigerators and had one dedicated to just Voss. Smart Water has been a favored brand with Jennifer Aniston and Zendaya being among various celebrities who chose this as their favorite water. There was an ad on TikTok with Zendaya promoting Smart Water and the comments consisted of ones such as, “If Zendaya drinks Smart Water, I drink Smart Water.” There have been numerous blogs written that rank water brands. Svalbardi had celebrities voice their opinions, which swayed the general audience. A blog written by Vincent Sanchez, a California resident who wrote an article for the California Aggie on May 11, 2024, conducted a blind taste test of different waters. He ranked them based on taste into tiers from F-tier as worst to D-Tier as best. The debate has come to a blind taste test of water, when water is meant to be tasteless. People stating their general opinion on something as trivial as water makes others share their opinion. Everyone claims their opinion is right, which happens with any debate over the internet. 

During spring break in 2019, I went to Disney World with my grandparents. We walked through Magic Kingdom with the heat at 80 degrees. After we waited on the incredibly long lines for the rides with wait times at almost 100 minutes, we needed a cold, refreshing drink. Our feet ached from the constant walking and the sun was beating down on our heads when we saw a concession stand. They had water, gatorade and ice tea along with a popcorn maker and a case of soft mickey pretzels. We bought two water bottles for four dollars each. The brand of water was Dasani. They didn’t sell any water, which makes sense as the Coke a Cola company is owned by Disney. At that moment, we didn’t care which brand of water they were selling. We just needed water to get through the rest of the park as there were a lot of sights and rides to see. We continued our stride through the many sections of the park and enjoyed the rest of the day with a nice, cold refreshing drink. 

Aqua di Cristallo is a limited edition water bottle made entirely out of platinum and coated with exactly six thousand diamonds. The late Italian artist Amedeo Clemente Modigliani handcrafted the bottle, which is worth four million euros. The bottle costs $107,200 per liter and is useless. Who would buy a bottle that looks like an oscar? Perhaps, people who gave in and bought Hydro Flasks and Stanley’s for $40. Fiji water, deemed “true celebrity water,” gets bottled at the source and shipped directly from Fiji. Poland Springs gets bottled in Poland, Maine. One water gets bottled in a country, and the other is a city in the U.S. Fiji water sounds better in comparison with an aesthetically pleasing bottle. Most people prefer aesthetic over quality. Various people have spoken about their opinions on which bottled water ranks the top spot, and each blog will have a different water ranked as first; however, it was noted by the NRDC that tap water is safer and better than bottled water. It depends on where a person lives, but the NRDC, or the Natural Resources Defense Council, noted in an article from 2023 that: “Both kinds of water are tested regularly for bacteria and most synthetic organic chemicals, but city tap is typically assessed much more frequently.” Where does this debate lie? Will people continuously argue over which brand of water is the best when plastic may be the bigger issue or whether bottles are safe to drink out of? The whole debate is about water.  Water has been a source of life since the beginning of time. When water started to get bottled, it became a healthier way to consume. Corporate brands created different brands and bottle designs, which are all water for different prices. The whole debate is about what people think, and when one person believes one brand is better than the other; it won’t affect another person’s day. Unless that person does let it affect her/his day. 

In February, some members of the Banner and I went to see Dune 2 at the AMC in the Staten Island Mall. We got the tickets scanned, went up the escalator, and we immediately smelled the distinct popcorn one only gets at the movie theater. We walked up to the counter and bought popcorn and chocolate covered pretzels. I wanted to buy water, so when it was my turn to go up, I asked if I could just get water. The woman at the counter asked, “Dasani or Smart Water?” I said, “Smart Water,” without any hesitation. She told me it was seven dollars, which wasn’t surprising as everything costs a lot at the movies. Dasani could have been the same price, or since it was a different brand, maybe it cost differently. I didn’t have a reason for picking Smart Water over Dasani. I just wanted water. I paid and she handed me the bottle, which was nice and cold from the mini refrigerator they had. I walked away and caught up with everyone as we walked into theater two and found our seats.