(WatchDogReport.org) – A jury in Las Vegas has awarded $3 billion in damages to eight plaintiffs who ingested toxic chemicals from contaminated bottled water. Compensatory damages amounting to approximately $98 million were also awarded to the three adults and five children. The mother of one child who suffered liver damage after drinking the contaminated water described the scenario as a “nightmare.”
The lawsuit claimed the alkaline water sold by the Real Water brand contained the toxic hydrazine chemical. Experts predict the children, who are aged between 7 months and 5 years, will suffer permanent liver damage from consuming the contaminated water.
Arika Carrier, the mother of one of the affected children, said her 5-year-old daughter’s condition was a “parent’s worst nightmare” and that she felt “helpless” as a parent. Carrier told reporters that her daughter, Hera, fell sick and began experiencing stomach problems, but her 2-year-old son did not. The chemical made her seriously ill and unable to hold down food.
A Nevada jury awarded $130 million to the five people in January 2024 over the harm caused by the water, which was sold as “detoxifying” and “alkalized.” Hydrazine is not among the 166 possible contaminants tested by the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the leading public supplier of water to the region. The Water Authority’s spokesman, Bronson Mack, stressed that it was not a defendant in the trial and that the municipal supply water in the area either met or surpassed all the standards laid out in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
Local and federal officials from the Clark County Health District and the US Food and Drug Administration issued warnings in 2021 not to drink the contaminated product. The authorities also ordered a recall of the Real Water product from shelves. The bottled water was sold mainly in Las Vegas, Utah, Phoenix, and parts of California for at least eight years and was promoted and sold online. At least one death was linked to people who drank the contaminated water.
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