The public-records exemption on water bills has another effect.

It is allowing the city of Raleigh to keep secret how much municipal water Pepsi Bottling Ventures is drawing for use in its Aquafina bottled water.

According to The Independent Weekly, a Durham-based alternative paper, North Carolina has a total of 28 bottling plants using municipal and groundwater, but all are protected by a provision exempting water bils from public scrutiny.

Raleigh, meanwhile, refuses to reveal exactly what amount Pepsi or their other largest users are pulling out of the municipal system—citing an exemption in the public records law. "The records you requested are enterprise billing records and not available to the public," wrote Raleigh City Attorney Thomas McCormick. 

Amanda Martin, attorney for the N.C. Press Association, told the Independent that doesn't make sense.

"We are in the middle of an extreme drought, and we are not even entitled to know which users are consuming inordinate amounts of water," she said.