The ever-increasing sales of bottled water is one of the great marketing scams of our time. But it certainly is not unique, and perhaps not even the most audacious. Marquette was the location of what must have been the ringer of all time. We’ll get to that later.
In a local supermarket I recently saw perhaps the cheapest bottled water sale: twenty-four twenty-ounce bottles for $4.99, or just a little over twenty cents a bottle.
When one realizes that this item’s sale price contains a profit for the bottler, for the distributor and certainly for the retailer, it seems impossible. Yet the cost of the water in that bottle could be less than a penny, and the chances that it was tap water from somewhere, treated perhaps, but not necessarily, are very high.
Strange, but understandable, the belief that tap water is unsafe or unhealthy is the engine that drives the sale of bottled water. The facts are, however, that most municipal tap water is far more regulated and more often tested than is bottled water. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently completed a four-year study showing that bottled water is not necessarily cleaner or more pure than tap water. But it certainly is more expensive.
My experience with bottled water began in Europe, where no enterprising restaurant was without the large bottle on the table, costing (today) anywhere from three to four Euros. If you decide not to use the bottled water and ask for tap water, you are likely to get that look from your server that says, “Oh, another cheap American.” You order the bottled water, in most cases, not wanting to look cheap, when in fact you are being sensible.
I suppose that some of the early French Perrier and the Italian San Pellegrino were in fact taken from springs in the nearby mountains. As both of these names are now served and marketed worldwide, I make the assumption they have followed the same path Americans follow—get the water cheap, use an expensive and classy label and sell for top price.
The NRDC report notes they tested 1,000 bottles of 103 brands and most of the tested waters were found to be of high quality. But, about one third of the test waters contained levels of contamination showing synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria and arsenic. The study also found that most regulations are inadequate.
The FDA is responsible for testing and approving water that is sold interstate, but there is no federal testing for waters produced and bottled and sold within the state, which accounts for sixty to seventy percent of bottled water. For some strange reason, carbonated water and seltzer are exempt from testing by FDA.
As presented by the NRDC, here are some of the main required testing differences between bottled water and “big city tap water.”
Required water tests for the following by EPA tap water and FDA bottled water rules:
• Disinfection required
• Confirmed E.Coli & Fecal Coliform banned
• Testing frequency for bacteria
• Filter to remove pathogens or affirm strictly protected source
• Must test for cryptosporidium, Giardia, Viruses
• Testing frequency for most synthetic organic chemicals.
All these tests are required for tap water, and none are required for bottled water except that the bacteria testing is required once a week. For tap water, the test period is hundreds of times per month. The test frequency for organic chemical is once a year for bottled water and once a quarter for tap water. Clearly, from an economic viewpoint and even from a considered health view, it is probably better to drink city tap water than to spend money on costly bottled water, which may be more dangerous to your health.
And so we now come to Lake Superior Springs, Marquette Mineral Water. The following information about a water company that existed in Marquette beginning in 1876 and starting its second life in 1902 is from original documents provided to me by my cousin Patricia Mayer who lives near the old Cox Farm.
When I was a boy living in Marquette, the Cox Farm was a place of great interest. First, it was always beautifully kept with open fields, a white fence and gracious white farm house. There was a spring house (remnants still remain), with a small stream that reportedly flowed uphill, contrary to gravity. Obviously, the uphill flow bears resemblance to the medicinal claims made for the water.
The following advertisement for the local mineral water was first published in 1875. I am going to quote it extensively because, first, it is great fun, and second, it bears more than rare relationship to medicinal claims advertised on our televisions today.
Everything below is quoted from the 1902 advertisement:

Lake Superior Springs
Marquette Mineral Water
The following advertisement concerning the Marquette Mineral Water was published in 1876. I am advised to retain the same. —E.D.Cox
The Lake Superior Spring was discovered in the autumn of 1875. It is situated some two miles west of the city of Marquette, Mich., at the base of a low range of hills, from which it issues in a small vein of quartzite. There are three springs within a radius of 100 feet, the aggregate outflow of which may reach 1,200 gallons daily.

To Invalids
In this effort to disseminate among the people a natural remedy for the cure of a large class of disease that have so long baffled the skill of the medical profession, I am not insensible of the responsibility I assume. To tamper with human life or to cheat the confidence and hopes of the afflicted is no part of my purpose. I have therefore since the discovery been slow to advertise to the world the curative properties of the water.
A trial of the water will demonstrate its ability to relieve, and, in many cases, cure the following diseases:
• Indigestion
• Dyspepsia
• Billiousness or Functional Affections of the Liver
• Acute or Chronic Inflammation of the Liver
• Engorgement of the Spleen
• Acute Inflammation of the Kidneys
• Pain in the Kidneys and Loins
• Hemorrhage of the Kidneys
• Bright’s Disease of the Kidneys
• Diabetes Albruminuria
• Dropsy
• Inflammation of the Bladder
• Inflammation of the Neck of the Bladder and Urethra
• Retention of Urine
• Ropy or Cloudy Urine
• Brick Dust Deposits
• Scalding pain in Voiding Urine
• Female Weakness
• General Debility
• All Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs
• Dyspepsia
Symptoms—After eating, a feeling of unusual fullness in the stomach, a disposition to avoid exertion and a distressing sense of languor and drowsiness lasting several hours. Embarrassed respiration; disturbed action of the heart; headache after sleeping in the daytime; a sense of helplessness of both body and mind; mental depression together with melancholy and hyprocondriasis. Constipation generally exists, sometimes alternating with diarrhea, the skin is dry and rough, the extremities are cold, the tongue more or less coated, while heart-burn and water-brash are seldom absent.

THE MARQUETTE MINERAL WATER comes as an angel of mercy to dispel the horrors of this disease. Its alkaline properties neutralize the acidity of the stomach; its saline ingredients correct the abnormal chemical changes of the ingesta, (sic) while its alterative (sic) effects restore a healthy secretion of gastric juices.

TREATMENT—Take a tumbler of the Mineral Water arising in morning and after gentle exercise for a half hour, another tumbler before breakfast, during the day from six to eight tumblers should be taken at proper intervals, so that the stomach may not be chilled. From two to three months is required for a permanent cure.

MORAL TREATMENT—A change of scene and outdoor employment is desirable, and regular recreation from ordinary pursuits should be sought. Seek new subjects for thought and new amusements. Above all, be assured that your cure is reasonable certain if the treatment here advised be faithfully followed.

REGIMEN—Have your meals at regular hours, discard pastry, rich puddings, sweetmeats and crude vegetables. Use ripe fruits in moderation. Eat slowly and chew the food well before swallowing it; drink the water as directed and your cure is certain. “It is life unto him that hath it.”

Wow! We long for the days of such certainty following such a simple path. The rest of the advertisement for this near miraculous potion outlines just as above the illness, the symptoms and the cure, the Marquette Mineral Water. While it seems clear this mineral water probably did not cure all the illnesses mentioned, it also probably did little or no harm, except to the pocket books of the time. You’ll enjoy the guarantee printed below:

GUARANTEE—$500 REWARD
Recent incomplete analysis proves beyond doubt that the water of the Lake Superior Spring is highly mineralized. The water which I will place upon the market shall be absolutely unadulterated pure spring water, just as it comes from the quartzite rock. The land adjacent to the spring will be open to all, for the most critical inspection possible to devise. To clinch the matter, I will upon demand, pay to any person $500 in gold, who may be able to prove, that the water in the Lake Superior Spring is in any manner adulterated for sale.
Marquette Mich., March 1, 1902.
Edwin D. Cox

The best scam artists of today, and there are a lot of them, probably couldn’t pitch anything any better than this—guaranteeing nothing except that the water has not been tampered with, but making it sound as though you’re guaranteeing the curative properties of the water.
Try to get bottled water today that will do the work of the Marquette Mineral Water. Not a chance! I don’t know for certain, but I assume that the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 shut off this tap.
—Don Curto

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