"Soda" water has been around since the 18th century when it was invented in Germany.  In England in the mid-19th century, thanks to Joseph Priestly, the "gasogene" apparatus became a hot item in middle-class homes. 

Alas, altho we are still attached to these beverages, they have given rise to plastic bottles, the scourge of the planet.

It is possible to make your own carbonated water, even to set it up so that it comes out of a "tap," but the only simple way to do it is to use the old cocktail shaker with the cartridges.  And that's not necessarily cheap.  Also, there's no real system for recylcing the cartridges.

Carbonated beverages made with fruit juices are much more nutritious, don't contain corn syrup, and probably make children just as happy as Coke.  Made with herb tea, they would certainly rival the "flavored water" now being sold, also in plastic bottles. 

Let's all make an effort to encourage retailers & carbon dioxide producers to come up with a method for bulk home generation of carbonated water using refillable canisters.  (Who knows, maybe they could figure out a way to recapture some of the CO2 that's causing global warming!)