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Water for $42 per bottle. What is wrong with people!?
I've never understood people's fuss over the water they drink when they go to hotels, let alone their willingness to pay for what is otherwise free in most western countries. When I'm out in cities where you can drink tap water, that's what I ask for; when I have to buy mineral water, I ask for the cheapest. Water is water is water. Having said that, I agree that sometimes the taste is distinct. For example, here in Madrid, mineral water Bezoya and Aquafina taste strange to me; I will drink them if I have to, but I avoid buying those brands -- I don't like water that tastes like something (it's not supposed to taste like anything!), but otherwise I'm not fussed. The whole "tap water isn't good for you" conundrum doesn't phase me in any way.
It totally ruffles my feathers when I go to a posh hotel and people I go with actually have a preference of mineral water, so I would go absolutely bonkers if I went to Claridge's Luxury Hotel in London and was given a water menu with 30 international brands to choose from. 30!
According to a recent article in the BBC: For the most refined palette there is fine artesian water from Japan at $30 a bottle and $40 a bottle, or Mahaolo from Hawaii, described on the menu as "rare deep sea water" that is "very old." And Just Born Spring Drops from India is apparently "light and not aggressive," at $42 per bottle.
WHAT!? THAT'S MORE EXPENSIVE THAN A GOOD BOTTLE OF WINE! And this stuff sells?
"We wouldn't do this if there wasn't a demand for it," says the hotel's public relations manager. Apparently guests not only ask for berg or glacial water, but water with no sodium content or water fortified with calcium and magnesium; they even specify the region from where they want the water! "People are so very, very careful about what they eat these days that it's moved into water."
Have I completely lost perspective here or do you find this as absurd as I do?
Filed under: Business, Food and Drink, United Kingdom, Hotels and Accommodations, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim Patterson Feb 15th 2008 12:24PM
Yet another sign that the apocalypse is upon us...$40 bottle of water!!! I'm going to go build a cabin somewhere far, far away.
Paul Feb 16th 2008 1:09AM
"We wouldn't do this if there wasN'T a demand for it"
Tim Feb 16th 2008 2:14AM
I think it won't be that shocking after 20 years coz
"The fresh water on which the world depends represents a mere 2.5% of available water. But then, three-quarters of this fresh water is trapped in the form of snow and ice. That is, all that is available for human use (and, of course, for animals as well) is 0.6% of the surface water!"
Source-
http://rajeshrana.blogspot.com/2007/01/water-crisis-of-21st-century.html
michael loffreda Feb 16th 2008 2:23AM
i picked up water in ct where they were filling the bottles with filtered tap water!
lafia Feb 16th 2008 2:26AM
g
pete Feb 16th 2008 5:33AM
When thousands of people die each year from drought, yet stupid unbelievably rich people pay $40 a bottle. This only points to how insane the world has become.
rbl Feb 16th 2008 7:14AM
I cant find a proper wiki and not sure how do you divide water in the USA, but in Poland we have "mineral", "natural" and "enriched" water (of course not for $40 per bottle).
Basically mineral water is the water drawn from from beneath the earth - for example 30m below ground. In theory it is the purest type of water, because while moving down it was filtrated of any type of contamination and additionally can have a lot of minerals (sometimes even too much - depending on the source, so it can be used only for some time not all the time). If the water wasnt somehow contaminated with bacteria during drilling one could pack it in the bottles and sell it, without doing anything to it. Sometimes (but rarely) the water is altered chemically (because it has too much minerals), but then it would not be called mineral water.
It can be carbonated of course.
Natural water is the water that is collected from a spring. Of course not from the spring above ground, but rather below, but this water can be contaminated with bacteria (small chance, but always..) and chemicals - because it is a "newer" water e.g. a spring on the mountain has water from the top of the mountain - and the snow could have been dirty
Enriched water - is the CRAP like bonaqua or Aquafresh. Basically it is water collected from a river, or a tap (probably river!!!) and cleaned using various chemicals. Basically first they make distilled water out of the river water (hopefully removing everything from it) and then they add their own chemicals, so that the water has its distinctive (crappy) taste. This water tastes the same way in every country methinks (unless they alter the formulae to suit the local taste) and is full of chemicals. The question is, if something can go wrong during the cleaning/enrichment process and arent you buying posion for $2 per bottle.
Tap water sometimes (not sure about USA) can be pretty similar to natural water, with a lot of minerals. It is cleaned with ozone and often has a bit too much minerals - so that it should be boiled first (well this applies to tap water everywhere anyway)
Jimmy L Feb 16th 2008 10:41AM
1000 liters of tap water costs $0.50.
1000 liters of bottled water @ $42 per bottle costs $84,000.
I'm not a math wiz, but I'm sure not retarded.
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fartbagxp Feb 16th 2008 12:49PM
It's better to be safe than sorry when you are traveling. Although $42 for a bottle of water is a bit excessive, it's most likely reserved for the richer guests, who are more willing to pay more for what they want. Besides, you're taking your sources from ABC news, not BBC. That's a big difference. And since it's from ABC, let me point out to you that there's no such thing as Mahaolo water in Hawaii. Why would you even cite a source that can't even spell correctly in the first place is beyond me. Please do more research.
Omarei Feb 17th 2008 5:22AM
fuk it let those idiots pay 40 bucks for a bottle of water.... my question is....why do all u dumbass bloggers always post a rant that has absolutely nothing to do with you...keep it to urself