FIJI Water

FIJI Water is a brand of bottled water which is bottled in the Fiji Islands. The water comes from an artesian well in the Yaqara Range of the Nakauvadra Mountains.

The company was formed in 1996 and the first bottles were shipped to the United States in late 1997. FIJI Water later became available at more retail locations throughout North America, the United Kingdom, France (mainly at le Bon Marché in Paris), Australia, much of the Caribbean, and Mexico.

It is available in .33 litre, .5 litre, 1 litre, and 1.5 litre bottles.

The company behind FIJI Water claims that it is purified by trade winds as it travels across the Pacific Ocean towards the islands of Fiji. Specifically, the water is drawn from an artesian aquifer located in the valley of Viti Levu, confined by volcanic rock from external influence. The company claims that in the case of FIJI Water, location is key, and because of the islands' remote displacement from other continents, it is protected by its antiquity from pollutants and other negative artificial contaminants.

FIJI Water is sealed in the aquifer and, according to the company, the bottling process is specifically designed to prevent the water from coming into contact with man or even the atmosphere until the cap is opened by the consumer. This ensures a lack of stagnating bacterial content.

Production criticism
For more details: Environmental impact of bottled water

Fiji Water has been criticized for the environmental costs embedded in each bottle. The production plant runs on diesel fuel, 24 hours a day. The high-grade plastic used to make the bottles is transported from China to Fiji, and then (full of water) to the United States. A 1 liter bottle of FIJI Water contaminates 6.74 liters of water to stretch-blow mold the plastic, burns fossil fuel to transport plastics from China and full bottles to the U.S., and produces 0.25 kg of greenhouse emissions.