Fiji Water bottles water from
Fiji and ships it overseas. The water is sourced from Yaqara, on the north shore of
Viti Levu, the largest island of Fiji. In 2007–2008, disputes with the Fiji government over export duties led to legal cases, impounded shipments and a self-imposed industry-wide shutdown of Fijian water bottlers. The government eventually dropped its proposed 20-cent per litre tax. In December 2008, Fiji Water laid off 40percent of its staff due to weakening sales. In November 2010, Fiji deported Fiji Water director of external affairs David Roth for "interfering in Fiji's domestic affairs," leading to the resignation of interim defence and immigration minister, Ratu Epeli Ganilau. Shortly afterwards, there was an increase in the extraction tax from one-third of a
Fiji cent per litre to 15 cents per litre for producers over 15million litres per month. The company would shut down its Fiji Island offices on November 29, 2010. The purpose of the raise was to increase Fiji Water's tax contribution to the Fiji Government on the F$150million (AUD 82million) they exported each year from F$500,000 to F$22.6million. Initially, the next step for the brand was to move operations to New Zealand. However, after threats from the government to give the well to another company, Fiji Water announced its intent to resume operations and accept the new tax levy. In December 2010, Fiji Water's Fiji plant had 400 employees. The company also established a foundation to provide water filters to rural Fiji communities, 50% of which lacked access to clean water at the time. As of 2018, it was down to 12%. In 2024, the
Federal Trade Commission issued a recall of almost two million Fiji Water bottles due to elevated levels of
manganese and three bacterial genera in products sold between February and March. The products were classified by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration as "not likely to cause adverse health consequence". == Marketing ==