Among bottled waters, some no better than out of the tap

Australians continue to splash out on bottled water regardless of the price and taste.

Up to $600 million was spent on quenching the nation's thirst as Australians downed almost 600 million litres in 2012.

A blind tasting of a selection of Australian and international still and sparkling waters by Fairfax wine critics Huon Hooke and Ralph Kyte-Powell resulted in a consensus that there was little difference between the two.

The sparkling waters were led by France's Badoit ($3.75/330ml) with a score of 18 out of 20, closely followed by Australia's Capi ($2.99/750ml) with 17 out of 20.

Of the still waters, Norway's Voss ($4.79/800ml), in its cylindrical bottle, earned first place with 16 out of 20. Australia's Capi ($2.99/750ml) and Snowy Mountain ($1.39/lt) were equal fourth.

The judges were highly critical of Sydney's tap water and scored it six out of 20 claiming it was ''dirty, dusty with a slight hint of chlorine''. In contrast, Melbourne scored 11 because it was ''simple, earthy, clean and quenching''.

Mount Franklin Sparkling ($2.34/1.25lt) and Pump ($2.88/750ml) did not do much better than Sydney's tap water with a score of seven. Pump is a market leader for purified water sales in Australia, according to an IBISWorld report on bottled water.

The report revealed the top three sources of bottled water sales in Australia were supermarkets and grocers at 35.4 per cent, convenience stores and petrol stations with 32.7 per cent and pubs, hotels and restaurants with 14.5 per cent.

It said sparkling mineral waters such as San Pellegrino and Perrier dominated the restaurant category. However, demand has slowed since 2008-09 with IBISWorld citing environmental opposition to bottled water as a reason. ''This has led to many food establishments to install filtration systems as opposed to stock bottled water.''

IBISWorld expects concerns about environmental responsibility and ethical behaviour in relation to bottled water will continue for the next five years and will force companies to change their packaging and marketing methods.

''Firms … will be forced to improve their environmental image by developing carbon-neutral products, reducing packaging and manufacturing bottles from renewable or natural sources,'' it said.