The Fat Diaries: Charging By The Glass For Tap Water

Well it’s been another gross week of high temperatures, thunderstorms and migraines. Not that I’ve been exposed the heat part.

You can tell it’s summer in my house when there’s condensation dripping off the windows and warping the sill. People can bitch to me all they want about conserving energy, but if it gets over 79° Mama ain’t happy (more accurately, Mama’s asthma ain’t happy).

I’ve also been drinking more water these days since it’s too hot and headachey for large amount s of coffee. That Brita filter so far has been worth the investment. I have mentioned a few times that I hate water. HATE IT — with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. I have to toss it back like a grad-student just to get enough fluids in my body.

Lately, however, it’s been less of a chore. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, or maybe it’s because I’m starting to wean myself off caffeine a little. Maybe it’s because I’m more aware of my body’s needs. Maybe it’s because I’m mutating into a fish person.

But whatever the reason, these days when I’m looking in the fridge I start to reach for the water first. I might drink something else afterwards, but I drink water before I get that diet soda. I’m the same in restaurants. Now when the waitress asks what I want, I’ve always asked for a glass of water to go with whatever else I’m having. A few times I’ve even (gasp) skipped the soda and beer completely and just drunk water. My local coffee shop has even taken to getting a cup of ice-water ready for me when the see me walk up to the entrance.

With all this renewed interest in H2O, I found a certain article interesting. It seems that an Australian chef Mark Best, owner of a gourmet restaurant Marque, has installed a state-of-the-art chilling and/or carbonating water filtration system. He wanted to reduce the amount of plastic water bottles his restaurant went through and reduce his carbon footprint a little.

So far so good right? Then he decided to openly charge A$5 a glass for filtered tap water in his restaurant.

Uh-oh. As you can imagine people are outraged. He’s been the target of editorials, letters and emails all berating him for charging money for tap water. So I love the idea of getting rid of bottled water (yay!) The less BPs and xenoestrogens in our ground water, the better. And yes, it’s true that people who eat at gourmet restaurants really shouldn’t be surprised at being charged mega bucks for everything. These are people who would pay $9 for imported bottled water (the same imported bottled water that costs $7 from a grocery store). So we have established in theory that Best’s usual clients will pay for water.

Now that that’s out of the way I have to say, that this was a dumb move business-wise. In almost every restaurant water is free. It comes in a jug of ice toted around by bus-boys with nervous expressions. Is that water really free? No. The restaurant has to pay water bills like everyone else. They have to pay for a filter (if they use one) and the electricity that runs the icemaker.

But do we see “cost of ice” on our bill? No. Instead we see a charge for a $3.75 soda that cost them $0.28. Best probably would have gotten extra bottoms in his restaurant just for yelling out that his tap water was a cut above the rest and didn’t waste plastic. He could have made it a selling point and his extra business would have paid for the $6k water system.

Instead, demonstrating a true artist's temperament (chefs certainly count as artists), he assumed if the patrons pay for Fiji, they will pay for this super-tap water.

When questioned about the A$5 price sticker (about US$5), Best stated that saving plastic bottles was enough benefit to put a price sticker on the water. "I'm not highly political but I want to make people aware and this is just one initiative," he said.

In other words, he wanted people to pay for the privilege of saving the environment. It’s an interesting thought, but I doubt it will catch on.

So while I’m here drinking my chilled filtered water on this stifling evening, I have to wonder: what would I pay for this? In truth? I picked up the cheapest model water filter in the store. Cost me $5 and we bought a year’s supply of filters for $20. Not bad. I’m helping the environment, making a healthy business choice and I’m saving money.

Sadly, it’s not saving nearly as much money as I’m spending on running the air conditioner.