Federal authorities have ordered a complete recall of Las Vegas-based bottled water brand Real Water after reports of at least one death and multiple cases of liver illness among people who reported drinking it.
Officials have ordered the company to surrender records as well. The order stopped the production and distribution of the product marketed primarily in Nevada, Arizona, Utah and California.
Real Water President Brent Jones and the company did not contest the order, called a consent decree, or admit wrongdoing pending further hearings. Telephone numbers for Jones and the company were no longer in service.
The federal civil complaint calls the product brand “Re2al Water Drinking Water,” and says it is treated with chemicals including caustic lye and a mineral salt.
Water is drawn from the Las Vegas-area municipal supply, according to the complaint, filtered and processed with potassium hydroxide, or lye, the chemical potassium bicarbonate and magnesium chloride, a salt.
“Defendants claim to use a proprietary ‘ionizer’ apparatus to apply an electrical current to this mixture, which allegedly creates positively charged and negatively charged solutions,” the complaint says.
The complaint alleges the “manufacture and distribution of adulterated and/or misbranded bottled drinking water and chemical concentrate” that “may have been rendered injurious to health.”
The Las Vegas-based Southern Nevada Health District on Thursday reported five more cases of liver illness believed to be linked to Real Water, including the death of a Clark County woman in her 60s who had underlying medical conditions. 16 cases of acute non-viral hepatitis are now tied to the product by the district.
In court filings, the company acknowledges the FDA investigation but not that Real Water caused illnesses.
Jones, a former Nevada state Republican lawmaker, issued an apology in mid-March on the company’s website and an assurance that “the lessons learned in this will drive further improvement in the brand.”
The FDA issued a statement in April calling it “crucial” for people not to “drink, cook with, sell or serve ‘Real Water’ alkaline water.”
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