water, a drink that can be very expensive

For the end of year celebrations, why not open a nice bottle of water at the price of a grand vintage? So-called luxury waters at 3, 10 or 60 euros per liter are the idea of ​​certain entrepreneurs who today dream of transforming blue into gold. So, economic boon or scientific and environmental aberration, the Eye of the 20 Hours went back to the source. On the heights of Megève (Haute-Savoie), at an altitude of 1740 m, the source of the Sasse is currently only accessible by snowmobile. Benoit Szymanski, the sales director of a water brand with higher than average prices who comes here regularly to check the quality of his source. To hear it, it’s much more than water flowing here. “We are dealing with a living product that comes out of the mountain”he confides.

Gold nanoparticles

Marketing water at a high price is not the only thing that has been thought about in the French Alps. Do you know, for example, Aur’a, a Romanian water which contains gold and silver nanoparticles. Nine euros per liter but no response to requests from France 2. Even more expensive, this American water in the bottle is encrusted with crystals, offered for up to 65 euros for 75 cl. But then what do valent claims stand out from the ordinary? “It’s the same”recognizes a seller with a hidden face. “Water, for me, is health. What are we willing to put in to be in good health?”, tries to explain Alexis Durant, water sommelier to justify the price differences practiced by certain brands. This emergence of new bottled waters also worries environmental activists. According to a Swiss study, due to the transport and manufacturing of bottles, the carbon footprint of a liter of bottled water is 1,500 times worse than that of a liter of tap water.