Real thing or rip-off?

Mineral water bosses today called for an investigation into Coca-Cola's plans to sell filtered tap water for 95p a bottle.

The Natural Mineral Waters Association accused the soft drink giant of "pulling the wool over the public's eyes" by claiming its new bottled water is "pure water" when in fact it is purified mains water from Sidcup.

In a scheme which mirrored the famous episode of Only Fools and Horses in which Del Boy Trotter tried selling tap water as "Peckham Spring", Coca-Cola admitted yesterday that the source for its new designer water, Dasani, is in reality the mains supply to its Kent factory.

The water, which Coca-Cola sells at about 95p for 500ml, is purified and filtered before having trace minerals added to make it taste better.

Thames Water, which supplies the Sidcup area, sells its product for the equivalent of 0.031635p for 500ml.

The Natural Mineral Waters Association said consumers could be misled into thinking Dasani was a natural product.

It has written to the Food Standards Agency demanding an investigation and calling for Coca-Cola to drop its claim that Dasani is "pure still water".

Association chairman Ian Hall said: "We don't think the public should have the wool pulled over their eyes. The label describes this as 'pure water', when in fact we are talking about tap water."

The National Consumer Council said: "We all laughed at the idea when Del Boy bottled Peckham Spring. We did not believe it could happen in real life, yet Coca-Cola seems to think it is perfectly acceptable.

"You can buy filters for tap water if you think that's necessary. However, the reality is that tap water is of very high purity.

"People will think twice about paying as much as 95p for a bottle of water that they have actually already paid for through their household bills."

Coca-Cola is investing £ 7million in the UK launch of Dasani as part of a worldwide expansion of the brand, which is already the second-biggest selling bottled water in the US. The French version of Dasani will be made from a natural mineral water source in Belgium rather than tap water.

Coca-Cola said the water goes through a "highly sophisticated purification process" which meant the product was "as pure as bottled water gets".

The water first goes through three separate filters which remove "particles and organic debris" as well as chlorine.

The next stage, called reverse osmosis, forces the water through a fine membrane, removing "bacteria, viruses, salts, minerals, sugars, proteins and toxin particles". Calcium, magnesium and sodium bicarbonate are then added for taste, according to Coca-Cola.

Barrie Clarke, spokesman for Water UK, which represents suppliers, said the suggestion behind the process seemed to be that tap water was impure.

"We don't think there are any impurities in tap water," he said. "People don't need to buy this stuff to get excellent quality, healthy water.

"If they like the bottle, the convenience, the style, then fine, but I don't think that is the way they are marketing this product."

Thames Water said its tap water passed 99.92 per cent of tests. "If the water regulator thought any more treatment was needed they would ask us to do so," said spokesman Chris Shipway.

Judith Snyder, brand PR manager for Dasani, confirmed they used "municipal" supplies.

"The source of the water is irrelevant - it doesn't affect the end result," she said.