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November 28, 2007

Purification That Comes in a Bottle: Water Takes on New Responsibilities

By IAN DALY

AT a tiny table for two in the back of her cafe in Chappaqua, N.Y., on a
recent Saturday evening, Diane Felicissimo was expounding on the virtues of
a mineral water from an ancient French spring called Wattwiller. “They say
it’s so old it has a soul,” she said.

Her establishment, Via Genova, opened in November of last year and is
billed as a water bar. Since then she has amassed an inventory of more than
80 varieties of the stuff, and with it, the devotion of discerning
aesthetes, who make pilgrimages to her mystical dispensary.

Ms. Felicissimo has grand visions for her featured product. “Ever hear of a
water wedding?” she asked. “Every wedding has alcoholics who aren’t
supposed to be around alcohol. Why not have a beautiful bottle of water on
every table instead of Champagne, and then toast with that?”

A former alcohol and substance abuse counselor, she has had no takers so
far for her offer to cater nonalcoholic weddings centered around
flavorless, odorless drinks. Yet she is not alone in believing that bottled
water can make the world a better place.

It is something of a renegade position these days, when the
$15-billion-a-year bottled water industry is under attack. Politicians are
banning the bottles, and restaurateurs are wiping them off their menus,
calling attention to the ecological costs of moving millions of bottles
around the world and around the United States — not to mention disposing of
all those containers.

There are those who say that while it may be hard on the planet, bottled
water is good for the soul. Whether that means printing prayers on their
labels, vibrating water at frequencies meant to stimulate health, or
imbuing it with good vibes aided by Native American incantations and
healing crystals, a small cluster of new water brands are offering
salvation along with rehydration. It may not be a coordinated
counteroffensive, but it is clear that one corner of the water industry is
in the midst of a spiritual renaissance.

“I think there’s a revolution happening,” said Claire Brightwater, producer
of a new spring water that shares her last name. “I really believe that
spiritual people like myself want to make a change, with all the suffering
in the world now.”

Ms. Brightwater, who calls herself a psychic, healer and medicine woman,
and who owns a Native American crafts gallery in Queens, applies the New
Age healing techniques she has used on crystals for three decades to
transfer what she claims is palpable “good energy” to her water and those
who drink it.

It is a complicated process. Once the bottles arrive from their source near
Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Ms. Brightwater said, she lays out tumbled stones
that she has “programmed for love, health and prosperity” around and on top
of each case.

She burns sage and sweet grass, herbs used by the Native Americans, to
clarify and purify the energy of the water, and prays for its drinkers to
experience good health, good luck and prosperity. She said she then asks
“the Great Spirit to help feed the hungry children, keep the waters clean
and to protect the two- and four-legged on this planet.”

She plays CDs of Native American and Buddhist healing chants for 12 hours a
day, until the cases of water are delivered.

Ms. Brightwater has found a powerful distribution channel for her water:
two Whole Foods Markets in the city have started carrying it this year.
Bottled water, measured in units, is the company’s top-selling item, and
she said she is already hearing from appreciative shoppers. “So many people
have e-mailed me to tell me they can feel the energy flowing through them
when they drink the water,” she said. “I’m astounded.”

Another product, Liquid OM Water, which made its debut in March, is
purified suburban Chicago municipal tap water that has been “frequency
enhanced” by its creator, Kenny Mazursky. A “certified sound therapist,”
Mr. Mazursky said he uses Tibetan singing bowls and a giant earth gong to
send vibrations through the water at specific frequencies.

“The guys at the warehouse love it,” said Mr. Mazursky, who said he
energizes a truckload of 36,000 bottles at a time in his distribution
center near Chicago, before the water makes its way to health food stores,
gyms and spas around the country. “They all come down off their forklifts
to sit in on it.”

Mr. Mazursky said that the natural frequencies he chooses promote good
health and balance, and that his bottles stay “energized” for years after
he treats them. “Water holds sound at five times the magnitude of air,” he
said. “That’s why dolphins and whales can talk to each other when they’re
miles apart.”

Another product, Spiritual Water, demands a more participatory (and
devotional) role from its consumers. On Dec. 3, the company, based in
Davie, Fla., will start to sell a line of Christian-themed waters inscribed
with prayers and religious illustrations. One variety, called “Formula J,”
features the image of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. “Focus” water
depicts the Virgin Mary, and “Defense” water bears a glowing crucifix and
copy that brings to mind the slogans on sports drinks: “Do you need more
defense? Grab a cold Defense Spiritual Water bottle, read the prayer,
believe in God, believe in yourself and the sky’s the limit. ...”

Ten cents of the $1.69 price will go to a faith-based charity. The bottles
contain municipal tap water from Santa Ana, Calif., where it is bottled but
not blessed.

Blessing the water might limit its consumers to one denomination, said
Elicko Taieb, the company’s founder. “It’s really about thinking positive,”
he said. “We create an icon that people can use on a daily basis. It’s a
symbol that says, ‘Hey, you can do it. God is with you.’”

Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and members of other religions have long
treated water as sacred, and the idea of water as elixir has ancient roots,
going back at least as far as Roman spas. Today, pharmacy shelves in France
stock waters to aid with everything from constipation to passing kidney
stones. (In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration prohibits
mineral waters from making any such health claims unless they submit to the
same evaluation process as new medications.)

Arthur von Wiesenberger, a consultant to the bottled-water industry,
speculates that some of the more recent far-fetched claims may stem more
from a familiar idea in the social sciences: that cultures, faced with
trying times, tend to turn to superstition.

“We’re at war, the world is in a relative state of turmoil,” Mr. von
Wiesenberger said. “People are looking anywhere for guidance. Why not start
with the fundamentals, like water? Water does have some mystical elements
to it and that’s been through the ages. There’s much about it we still
don’t understand. So in a way, it’s a perfect vehicle to bring in faith and
mysticism.”

Not every new player in the bottled water game aspires to be so deep. Kevin
Boyd, founder of Beverly Hills-based Bling H20, sells water from Tennessee
in 750-milliliter bottles encrusted in Swarovski crystals and that go for
$40. “It’s the same statement people make when they’re doing bottle service
at a nightclub or driving a Bentley,” he said. “Those of us who get it, get
and appreciate it.”

Which brings up one niggling little fact: the substance inside the bottle.
Appeals to the soul, or to more earthly desires, may inspire customers, but
they don’t show up under a spectrometer.