Gulp! Bottled water comes at a free flowing price

More than a couple of hours later, the weighty bill arrived. And almost 10 per cent of it comprised the water charge.

There are 'outrageous' claims like "the production of water bottles uses 17 million barrels of oil a year, and it takes three times the water to make the bottle as it does to fill it" all over the Internet. Many water activists want to "ban the bottle": it's doing the environment no good and, hey, isn't water meant to be free? Yeah, it is, but then, in many places, water's not entirely "clean" - or "potable"; to which the counter is: how come countries that actually have clean, potable water (the United States, for instance) account for the largest consumption of bottled water? So on and so forth, that's how it flows.
I've never been anti- or pro-bottled water because I've never been very interested in the dynamics of the sector (I agree it's a great business model - but then, who doesn't?). Every Friday morning, I call for six bottles 1.5L of Masafi or Al Ain or Arwa or whatever is stocked at the supermarket downstairs, and the consignment usually lasts me till the Friday after (unless I have thirsty guests over; my mother, for instance, when she's over, polishes off four bottles a day). At times, I get a couple of bottles of the more expensive brands - because I've seen a great ad campaign or because I feel like spending money like water. It does make me wonder why some brands of bottled water cost 10 times more than the others. But then I invariably picture an Aquarius-like water bearer hunched over at some Alpine fountainhead, carefully filling up H20 in variously sized, er, bottles; it's an image that makes me think of toil and hard labour, so I'm okay paying the price for it.
That basically sums up my drinking water world. Oh yes, one more addition: if I'm eating out at a posh place, and the server asks me, "Still or sparkling?", I always say, "Still" (hate sparkling, it's like drinking soda, bottoms up).
Last weekend, bottled water suddenly took on a different dimension. I was out with friends at a lunch to a five-star hotel. While we were all fussing over the menu, and exclaiming (to each other) why we were meeting after such a long time, the server asked the mandatory, "Still or sparkling?" To which we chorused, in unison, "Still. Room temperature. Thank you." We went back to our chatter.
Our squat water glasses were being filled every now and then, though I don't recall drinking copious amounts, maybe a couple of glasses. I mean, who notices how much water you are drinking over lunch, unless you're serially biting into super-fiery chillies?
More than a couple of hours later, the weighty bill arrived. And almost 10 per cent of it comprised the water charge (talk about the weight of water!).
Obviously we paid up immediately, but I made a mental note of it. One bottle of that water cost as much as a salmon steak would in a (okay, not a five star) casual dining restaurant (and, apparently, our group consumed five bottles). What in the world - that's three-fourths full of water - happened in there? One of my friends looked extremely bored when I mentioned "the cost of water" on our way back home in the taxi (I couldn't stop thinking about it, it had become some sort of a post-prandial obsession). "Well, yeah, you know, whatever, it's bottled water. in a five-star hotel. what do you expect?" That was it.
But I was not giving up. "Wouldn't you assume that a five-star hotel would have sufficient paraphernalia to produce potable water for its guests - and not charge us for overpriced water plus overpriced food?"
"Hmmm, I guess. hey, you know what? Shut up, and let's go watch a movie now."
sushmita@khaleejtimes.com