>>871460Well water comes in two types. The name brand purified water and heavy water. The purification process that big name brand companies use makes the water lighter and fluffier. Which gives it that unique smooth and refreshing feel. Taste of course is subjective. Tap water is a combination of both, it's cheaper in bulk so the goverment supplies that. It also fools people into thinking that they're getting good water but it's just watered down good water.
And I know what you are thinking, "you forgot sea water." But the truth is, not many know this. Sea water is actually sea and not water. The reason we call sea water is because the conversion factor between sea and water is basically 1 (1.0000342 to be exact). And many other "waters" aren't really water like rain and water vapor. But I went on a tangent and for the purposes of this explanation I'll omit the science. But now that we know our waters let's talk about the soda making process.
To make soda the companies of course need water, but which water really is dependent on their assortment of ingredients. Often companies use heavy water ignoring their ingredients in an effort to save money which often leads to bad sodas with no flavor, sugar free and aspartame ridden sodas. Again I'll omit the heavy aspartame chemical reaction.
Back in the 1870's most people noticed that because most sodas are comprised of the same basic ingredients, some type of water, sugar, coloring, bubbles, and a flavoring, they could try to develop a heavy-light water ratio that could be used in the majority of sodas. And through trial and error they found that the best ratio was 4 parts heavy water to 3.5 parts purified water. As a result this became a national and later and international standard.
So to answer your question OP. Soda companies basically use tap water, scientifically engineered tap water, but tap water nonetheless. Of course some companies claim to make superior sodas and use nothing but purified water.
