Canada?s fascination with Dasani

Why is Dasani - the purveyors of which were honored with the 2004 Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize — now on the lips of so many Canadians, in name if not in substance?

Perhaps it has to do with the combination of this July 17, 2006 headline in the Toronto Globe and Mail:

Dasani, IPO send Coca-Cola to surprise profit increase

and this October 30, 2006 report by Bloomberg News:

Bottled water is far more expensive than municipal water. A liter (33.8 ounces) of tap water in Canada costs taxpayers an average of less than one-10th of a cent, Toronto’s city government says. That means a liter of bottled water selling for C$2.50 is almost 3,000 times more expensive.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest bottler, uses municipal water from Calgary and Brampton, Ontario, for its Dasani brand. The company filters the water five times to remove chemicals, odors and bacteria, and adds minerals to improve the taste, spokeswoman Stephanie Baxter says.

That Ig Nobel citation explains that that 2004 prize was awarded to:

The Coca-Cola Company of Great Britain, for using advanced technology to convert ordinary tap water into Dasani, a transparent form of water, which for precautionary reasons has been made unavailable to consumers.