07/20/2004
 CNN ANDERSON COOPER 360° is a fast-moving, surprising and provocative alternative to the typical network evening newscast. Backed by the global resources of CNN, Anderson's anchor desk is Central Command for a 360-degree look at world events -- covering not only the day's top stories, but the fascinating, the unexpected and the underreported.
AIRS on CNN: 7-8 p.m. ET Monday-Friday
COOPER: Mmm, water. If all that water
makes you a little thirsty, listen to this. Americans drank over 6 billion
gallons of bottled water last year. In fact, bottled water consumption has
surpassed beer, coffee, milk, and is second only to soft drinks. Some of the
biggest drinkers of bottled H2O, of course, are celebrities, who are sparking
the trend to water worship.
CNN's Jason Bellini reports, part of our
week-long series, Star Treatment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON BELLINI,
CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Word leaked from Madonna's wedding, Voss Water
was served. Quickly, the sleek Norwegian beauty, which boasts of its purity,
went A-list. It acquired "Sex in the City" sass and MTV star power. Not to be
outdone, Penta says it molecularly restructures tap water. It uses a seven-step
reverse osmosis process. It claims to make its water more easily
absorbed.
DIANE IRONS, AUTHOR, "AGE-DEFYING BEAUTY SECRETS": Ellen
DeGeneres loves it, and Sting says that it's so good, it's like a finely tuned
instrument.
BELLINI: Some establishments have become celebrations of
designer waters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very gentle bubbles.
BELLINI:
The Abigail Stoneman Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, offers more than 20 different
waters from around the world. It's called a water bar.
UNIDENTIFIED
FEMALE: All right, let's try that.
BELLINI (on camera): Do guests ever
look at you funny when you tell them, We have a water bar?
WIN BAKER,
OWNER, ABIGAIL STONEMAN INN: Yes, they do sometimes. And usually the reason
they'll ask that is they'll say, Oh, the waters can't really be all that
different, are they? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Well, why don't you find
out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's harsher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like
all the glasses (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BELLINI (voice-over): Jason Rubin wants
to make this a special occasion for his girlfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE:
When we first started looking for places to come, you know, this is probably the
biggest selling point (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BELLINI (on camera):
Water?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
THEODORA POLLUCK, INNKEEPER,
ABIGAIL STONEMAN INN: She doesn't know it, but he is asking her to marry him
this evening.
BELLINI: Do you have just the right water for this
occasion?
POLLUCK: I think so, I think Voss is just the right water. One
of our guests described it this way. He said, Voss is like you are being
enveloped in a cloud.
BELLINI (voice-over): She said
yes.
There's
such a thirst for sophisticated H2O, there is even a Web site devoted to it.
Finewaters.com offers advice on marrying appropriate stemware and temperature,
depending on the food. Bottled water is an $8.3 billion a year industry. Store
shelves cascade with vitamin waters, fruit-flavored waters, even smart waters
infused with electrolytes.
BAKER: Even among distilled waters, you
can really taste some of them have a, you know, more mineral
contents.
BELLINI (on camera): Distilled waters run deep?
BAKER:
They do, not as deep as sparkling water.
BELLINI (voice-over): Unless you
know better, even the very best tastes like water.
Jason Bellini, CNN,
Newport, Rhode Island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: All right. Here to
talk more about water worship and celebrities, Robin Vitetta-Miller, a
contributor to "Health" magazine.
Thanks for being with us.
ROBIN
VITETTA-MILLER, CONTRIBUTOR, "HEALTH" MAGAZINE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COOPER:
All right, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) all these different kinds of water. This is Voss
Water...
VITETTA-MILLER: Right, (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COOPER: ...
which has an amazingly cool package.
VITETTA-MILLER:
Right.
COOPER: They call themselves, they say it's from a virgin aquifer.
It's artesian water from Norway, shielded for centuries in ice and rock. It,
isn't all water shielded for centuries?
VITETTA-MILLER: Exactly. All
water is shielded for centuries in ice and rock. It's a beautiful package,
though.
COOPER: Right, it's a great package.
VITETTA-MILLER: And
if that's what it's going to take for you to drink water, then that's the way
you should go.
COOPER: Is a lot of this stuff
packaging?
VITETTA-MILLER: A lot of it is packaging and hype. And you saw
in the package that, you know, Madonna had it. So, I mean, it really is, who is
drinking what water? How is it packaged? But I'll tell you what, if it is going
to help you stay hydrated, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
COOPER:
There's another water, Penta, advertises a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
-- I can't even say it, molecularly restructured water...
VITETTA-MILLER:
They restructure the molecules.
COOPER: ... with smaller molecular
clusters. Is this, A, even possible, and B, does that really
matter?
VITETTA-MILLER: Well, it is possible. And what they did, the
reason they did it is so that the, that the, these little molecular clusters can
enter your cells more quickly. Do we need that? Well, our bodies are pretty
smart. You know, we're 90 percent water anyway. That's the water kind of gets in
and out of the cells on its own. However...
COOPER: If you drink enough
water...
VITETTA-MILLER: ... this is the...
COOPER: ... you are
going to be hydrated.
VITETTA-MILLER: You're going to be hydrated. But
that's their claim is that it gets into your cells more quickly so you get
hydrated faster, which is better for your looks and your athletic performance
and your smarts. So that's the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COOPER: All right, so
packaging aside, I mean, is drinking tap water so much worse than drinking some
of this expensive bottled water?
VITETTA-MILLER: No, you know, what? I'll
tell you what, I'll tell you what, that -- well, there's two -- there's some
pros and con, I mean, tap water is certainly with the EPA regulations, tap
water's great. And there are minerals in tap water, like fluoride, for example,
that your kids need that you don't find in a lot of these bottled
waters.
However, tap water's not portable. So if you need to drink the
six to eight glasses that we're supposed to get every day, eight-ounce glasses,
and you're going to carry a bottle around to get that, that,
that...
COOPER: Or you can take...
VITETTA-MILLER: ...
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
COOPER: ... the cool package and just fill it up with
tap water.
VITETTA-MILLER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), right, use the package once,
and then nobody will know you are drinking right out of your tap.
COOPER:
Water's never going to advertise on this show ever after this. Let me ask you,
though, I mean, it can be pretty pricey, this Voss thing I, apparently is $4 in
stores, but can be, like, $10, $15 bucks in hotels and
stuff.
VITETTA-MILLER: Yes, it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE), oh, absolutely in
hotels, for sure. It's very expensive. And I'll tell you what I think is a good
plan is to buy. And, you know, you pay sometimes for the vitamins and the
minerals and the nutrients that are added, which is not necessarily a bad thing
either. Some of these that we mentioned, the vitamin waters and the smart
waters...
COOPER: Right.
VITETTA-MILLER: ... it's not bad you're
paying for some of that. However, you don't need it as your sole source of
water. Tap water is certainly fine too.
COOPER: All right, a good message
to end it on. Robin Vitetta- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Miller, thanks very
much.
VITETTA-MILLER: Thanks.
|
The Water Connoisseur
