On October 16, Cathedral Prep Senior Michael Buzas kindly expressed his dismay in a letter to the editor over my personal classification of Fiji Water as “the most luxurious of all waters.” In his letter, Mr. Buzas declared his allegiance to Voss Water and argued relentlessly for his case that Voss Water is superior to Fiji water.
What Mr. Buzas may or may not know is that there is deep controversy surrounding the true origins of Voss Water. In October 2010, Norway’s TV2 uncovered that Voss Water is not the true “Artesian” water that it labels itself to be. TV2 uncovered that the true source of Voss is actually through Iveland, Norway’s municipal water supply system. TV2’s documentary “A Drop of Luxury” disclosed that Voss Water is in fact pumped from a groundwater source and delivered to the Voss Water plant for bottling after having passed through the Iveland municipal waterworks, which supplies the liquid to both the Voss Water plant and the Municipality of Iveland.
One of Voss Water’s head executives even admitted to TV2 that Voss Water is essentially tap water. “It is true that also the municipal subscribers in the area get the same water as we tap the bottles. It is basically an agreement with Iveland municipality that makes the water comes from the same source,” says Voss Water chairman, Rune I. Fløgstad.
While Voss Water executives do claim that Voss Water is perfectly clean and safe to drink, it is not nearly as luxurious as they claim. To think, while drinking a bottle of Voss Water, you are consuming the exact same water that might have very well appeared in the toilet of a Norwegian man (or woman).
However, as a free American citizen, Mr. Buzas has a right to consume whichever water he prefers. As for me, I will stick to drinking my truly exotic Fiji Water, which was naturally filtered underground through volcanic rock, safe from any human (or cattle) contamination.