UPDATE: This story was written Thursday, April 23rd and contains information relevant to that time. To read the updated story written Friday, April 24th, click here.

This afternoon six students at La Mesa Jr. High in Canyon Country were taken to the hospital following concerns over bottled Aquafina water in the school’s vending machines.

[view:node_ad=5]According to Hart District spokeswoman Pat Willett, the first student reported feeling slightly nauseous after drinking from an Aquafina bottle of water.

School officials then transported the student to the hospital as a precaution.

Teachers were notified of the incident, and they promptly told all students who noticed anything suspicious about a bottled beverage that day to report it to the office. Five students came forward and said that they too had sipped bottled Aquafina water, but stopped when they realized that it looked cloudy and tasted abnormal. 

{mosimage}Despite showing no symptoms, all five students were transferred to three local hospitals; Providence Holy Cross, Henry Mayo and Olive View.

All the while La Mesa staff were at work shutting down the vending machines on campus and identifying which batch the tainted water came from.

Willett confirmed that all six of the students have been medically checked and given a clean bill of health.

The source of the water contamination is still unclear however, and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detectives are working at the school site along with LA County Hazardous Materials crews and members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

So far, no evidence of individual product tampering has been reported.

Pepsi, who owns Aquafina water, has been notified of the incident and all affected serial numbers.

Editor’s Note: Pepsi concluded an investigation Friday of the Aquafina bottling site where the questionable water originated and have found no evidence that the contamination occurred at the site. To read their statement click here.

Every school in the Hart District has pulled all Aquafina products matching the tainted batch out of the retail cycle.

The six students who drank the water described a taste similar to a cleaning product, which has led to the possibility that the foul taste may be attributed to some form of detergent used at the bottling site.

KHTS will update this story when more information becomes available, however at this time it is believed that all tainted bottles have been removed from the students. Any student who purchased an Aquafina bottled water and has yet to consume it is advised to turn it in to their school office.