Researchers Tested How a Bottle of Dasani Water Differed From Normal Tap Water. Here’s What They Found

Despite carrying the reputation of being the fourth-largest brand in the arena since 1999, Coca-Cola’s Dasani has seemingly lost the confidence of the population over the years. Redditors call Dasani water by names like “liquid dust,” “swamp water,” “pool water,” “tastes like plastic” and “chalky." In April 2024, the brand announced that they were tweaking the water’s formula by removing salt content. But the celeste blue bottles of Dasani continue to evoke hesitation among water drinkers who can’t bear its metallic aftertaste. In May 2023, Tap Score analyzed samples of Dasani to investigate and decode the water’s composition. The full laboratory report and Certificate of Analysis were published by Simple Lab.

“Dasani bottled water is basically tap water in a bottle that's been treated by reverse osmosis,” the company concluded and wrote in an Instagram post. “Since reverse osmosis removes almost everything in the water, Dasani specifies that they add a "special" blend of minerals to bring back some flavor.” They added that although they didn’t find any contaminants, their tests revealed that the water’s pH was slightly lower than that of the typical tap water. No wonder, people call it the "worst-tasting water ever." The research found that the brand's bottled water offers nothing specifically more beneficial compared to normal tap water.  

As for the minerals, the company found normal traces of calcium and magnesium. “Those are present in virtually all water samples we run,” they explained. However, they did find HPC. According to the International Bottled Water Association, Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC) is a live nonphotosynthetic bacteria occurring as natural background flora in water. HPC is typically found both in tap water and bottled water, but it is not a reason for concern. It “does not possess appreciable virulence factors associated with human disease,” the organization explains. So, in conclusion, the lab indicated people can rely on tap water as much as they seek brands like Dasani.

Although the snowy mountains depicted in the background of Dasani's advertisements may indicate purity and freshness, or the “Life happens between sips” may indicate good health or its PlantBottles may indicate sustainability, the customer feedback for the bottled water brand has not been quite appealing. Besides, in this experiment, Tap Score only tested Dasani's bottles for metals, minerals, nitrates, VOCs, and bacteria, not for microplastics, pesticides, radionuclides, or pharmaceuticals. And Dasani could indeed be the carrier of microplastics, as @microplastickit also said in a tweet.

A recent study found that many bottled water samples contain zillions of nanoplastic particles that are not visible under a microscope. If these teeny plastic particles seep into the digestive tract, lungs, and bloodstream, they can inject the body’s cells with harmful synthetic chemicals. One liter of water contained an average of 240,000 plastic particles from seven types of plastics, of which 90% were identified as nanoplastics and the rest were microplastics,” the researchers revealed in the study published in January 2024 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  Although it's uncertain if Dasani bottles contain these nanoplastics or not many believe that this could indeed be a possibility.