Have you ever noticed how many different varieties of water there are these days? Water is such a large part of our daily lives. It’s what keeps us alive. Seventy percent of the Earth is covered by water and humans are comprised of roughly 65% water. But I thought water was supposed to be simple. Perhaps it was a long time ago, but today water has been turned in sales in excess of eight billion dollars. How has a simple commodity as water turned into such a lucrative business?
Astonishingly enough, drinking water has evolved over the years. We’ve gone from drinking out of our hands in the creek to pumping it out of a well into a bucket to running water straight from the tap. What a luxury it was to take a glass to your faucet and get water! Pretty soon plain water wasn’t good enough; we had to add fluoride to it. Was this the apex of drinking water? Hardly, soon water from the faucet was taboo. We had to drink water out of a bottle. Bottled water was absolutely pure, no toxins whatsoever. We were willing to shell out a few bucks a bottle of this delicious water. The price per bottle has dropped, due to more companies entering the market (or is it because Americans started to question pay $1.99 for water?) Had this fad ended? Not quite.
Take a look at your local supermarket and observe the copious choices of water. You have “normal” drinking water in plastic bottles. You have fancy water in trendy glass bottles. Same marketing theory applie
s to sparkling water, plastic for normal sparkling water, glass for the special stuff. Don’t like the taste of plain water? Try flavored water. There is lemon, lime, orange, and berry. Not getting enough nutrition from your water? Try flavored Vitamin water. Feeling a bit depleted from that run? Here’s a bottle of electrolyte enhanced water. You don’t want to twist the top off your bottle? No problem, we have a sport top water bottle with grooves for your finger. We’ve come along way from schlepping water out of our hand from a creek. There are choices on top of choices when it comes to water. If you go to the supermarket and ask someone for a bottle of water, beware, they might ask you what kind you want. You’ll have your pick.
All this talk about water has made me parched. Excuse me while I take a drink of sparkling raspberry vitamin water from its eco-friendly bottle with it’s enlarged easy to drink spout. Water has never been so satisfying. Ahhhh.
