H2Orange Hopes To Sell Spirit, Fund Scholarships in a Bottle

The University of Texas is devising a new way to raise money for scholarships - the first-ever mini-sculpture of the UT Bell Tower, rendered in a plastic water bottle.

H2Orange® features purified Texas water sourced from the Corpus Christi Municipal Water District, cleverly packaged in a scale-model replica of the Tower.

The release of the beverage was announced Monday by UT President William Powers Jr. and the co-founders of Austin ad agency GSD&M Idea City, Steve Guraisch and Tim McClure.

UT hopes that sales of H2Orange will result in $1 million raised for scholarships annually, and will be initially distributed in Austin. A rollout into other major Texas markets is expected this fall.

Commenters at the University of Texas News website had mixed reactions to the announcement, with some praising the plan as a good project to raise scholarship money, while others criticized the decision to market water in disposable plastic bottles.

According to the Austin American-Statesman, McClure is the author of the Don't Mess With Texas anti-litter campaign. Additionally, the city of Austin no longer serves bottled water at City Hall meetings, in an effort to reduce the waste that accumulates in landfills from empty plastic bottles.