By GARY HABER
The News Journal

WILMINGTON, DE
C. Mark Taylor took a sip of water from each of the four plastic cups lined up in front of him, considering each as carefully as a restaurant patron selects a bottle of wine.

The Wilmington resident was one of about 40 people who took Corporate Accountability International's Tap Water Challenge on Wednesday at Rodney Square while Coca-Cola Co. held its annual shareholders meeting across the street at Hotel du Pont.

Members of the Boston-based group were pressing their case that Coca-Cola, whose products include Dasani bottled water, the nation's second-best selling bottled water behind PepsiCo's Aquafina, has turned water from a natural resource into a pricey consumer item. Coca-Cola and other bottled water producers are misleading the public into thinking bottled water is safer, healthier and better-tasting than tap water, the group says.

"We want to let Coca-Cola know that there's a growing movement challenging what they're doing," said Gigi Kellett, an organizer with Corporate Accountability International.

Kellett's group was among a host of organizations that gathered near the hotel to oppose everything from Coca-Cola's treatment of workers in Colombia to the environmental impact of its operations in India. About 50 people attended Wednesday's protests, including college students and members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from locals in Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

"We have this idea that we need bottled water, and we don't," said Lauren Asprooth, a University of Delaware freshman, who took part in the protest.

Inside the shareholders meeting, Coca-Cola CEO E. Neville Isdell was peppered with questions from Corporate Accountability International representatives and representatives of other groups.

Isdell told shareholders the company was looking to put controversies in Colombia and India to rest and establish "a global platform for social responsibility."

"We want to protect the planet and its resources," Isdell said.

Coca-Cola shareholders sided with management. They soundly defeated resolutions calling for an independent report on the environmental effects of Coca-Cola's Indian plants and for an independent inquiry into the company's Colombian labor practices. The former was defeated by 93 percent of voting shareholders. The latter was rejected by 94 percent of voters.

Despite the protesters' efforts, Americans continue to gulp plenty of bottled water. More than 7.5 billion gallons were sold in the United States last year, according to data from Beverage Marketing Corp., a 10.7 percent increase from 2004. Each American consumed 26.1 gallons of bottled water last year, an increase of more than 2 gallons from 2004. Aquafina had 2005 sales of almost $1.3 billion in 2005, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. data. Dasani sales topped $1 billion.

Kari Bjorhus, a Coca-Cola spokeswoman, said bottled water consumption is a matter of consumer choice. "If people want to drink tap water, they sure can," Bjorhus said. "But, drinking bottled water won't make tap water any less available."

Dasani comes from municipal water systems and is filtered through a reverse osmosis process, with minerals added to give it a distinctive taste, Bjorhus said.

Outside the annual meeting, Corporate Accountability International representatives were corralling passers-by like Taylor to see if they could tell the difference between bottled and tap water from Wilmington and Newark. The group said it has conducted similar taste tests in about 20 cities, including Newark and Philadelphia, since March 21.

"More than likely, I can tell you the difference," said Taylor, who drinks filtered Wilmington tap water. He wound up mistaking Newark tap water for Dasani and Wilmington tap water for Aquafina.

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