Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, my name is Hip Lee. I'm the CEO of Turing AI Corporation. You're listening to the Water Values Podcast.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: The Water Values Podcast is sponsored by the following market leading companies and organizations by 1898 and company possibilities Powered by Experience by Woodard and Curran High Quality Consulting, Engineering Science and Operations Services.
Buy in Terra Innovation and Stewardship or A Sustainable Tomorrow by Xylem. Let's Solve Water by the American Waterworks Association. Dedicated to the World's Most Important Resource by Black and Veatch Building a World of Difference and by Advanced Drainage Systems. Our Reason Is Water. This is session 288.
[00:00:55] Speaker C: Welcome to the Water Values Podcast. This is the podcast dedicated to water utilities, resources, treatment, reuse and all things water. Now here's your host, Dave McGimpsey.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Well, hello and welcome to another session of the Water Values Podcast. As my daughter Sarah said, my name is Dave McGimpsey and thank you for joining me and thank you as always for your support over the last 12 plus years. Now food anthropologist turned water sommelier and founder of Fine Waters, Michael Masha comes on the show to discuss premium waters, how they got their taste characteristics, pairing premium waters with food, emerging markets for premium water, and so much more. Michael is just a wealth of information and you're really going to enjoy this unique episode.
Also, Reece Tisdale is back for another Bluefield on Tap segment to detail Bluefield's upcoming Water Market Report.
Good conversation with Reese there, but before we get into today's conversations, we always say thank you to our awesome sponsors at the top of every show. And we have fantastic sponsors in 2026. The Water Values Podcast is sponsored by 1898 and Company, Woodard Curran, Entera Xylem, the American Waterworks Association, Black and Veatch, and Advanced Drainage Systems. And as you well know, that is a terrific collection of of impactful companies that have affirmatively decided to support water industry thought leadership and education. And I thank you all and I'd like for you, the listener, to please do me a favor. If you work for or with any of those sponsors, please thank your boss or thank your contact at the sponsor firm and let them know that you appreciate their leadership in the industry through the sponsorship. You'd be surprised how far that simple little note of thanks will go.
And as long as you're letting the sponsors know you appreciate their support of water industry education and thought leadership, why not leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or whatever other podcast directory you're accessing the podcast on? It'd be Greatly appreciated and of course helps others find out about the podcast. And also please don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. Yes, the ever important subscription.
Well, before we head on to the interview with Michael, we've got a Bluefield on Tap segment with Bluefield Research's Reece Tisdale. So take it away, guys.
Reece, welcome back to another episode of Bluefield on Tap. How we doing this month?
[00:03:21] Speaker D: Things are good. I mean like when we just got on, I'm here, so I feel pretty good.
Yeah, life is good. Summer's here.
The Boston Red Sox are arguably the worst team in baseball in my mind. So the dog days of summer have arrived early.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, the Seattle Mariners took over first place this week, but they still have a sub.500 record. So I hear you. When you said I'm here, that's kind of how I feel like the Mariners are here. They're under.500. They're in first place though. So things are looking up.
[00:03:54] Speaker D: They're very good. Bad team.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:58] Speaker E: So a lot going on in the water industry.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: What has caught your fancy this month?
[00:04:06] Speaker D: So I think maybe closer to your wheelhouse, one of the things we're about to release is deep dive analysis of IOUs around this time of year. I think we even talk about it around this time of year, every year. And that is IOUs market share. Looking at some of the trends that have happened among these investor and utilities in terms of M and A acquisitions, what it all means, what are the trends?
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah. So kind of what? Can you give us a thumbnail on
[00:04:35] Speaker E: what your research has shown?
[00:04:39] Speaker D: Yeah, so I mean there are obviously some big deals that have happened this past year that are in many ways taken the air out of the room. I've had a number of different meetings, whether it be with clients or larger groups. The mega scale consolidation. Right. Everybody's looking to see what the impact of American Water and Essential Utilities is.
When this announcement was made, I mean as I said, it's going to create a utility of about, about 4, almost 5 million connections.
But I think what was interesting in looking at this in terms of market share, it means American Water among the top 20 investor owned utilities is going to have 53% market share. So that's their holdings or number of connections served as larger than the next 18 competitor competitors combined.
[00:05:34] Speaker E: That's crazy.
That's wild.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: I think that just shows how tough a business the water industry is. Right?
[00:05:42] Speaker D: Yeah. And I think to that point, I think it is right. I remember this is years ago, I was having a meeting. It was Someone actually at Essential and we were talking about outsiders looking in. We've talked about it over the years, whether it be Nextera and others that have moved in, moved out, rwe even back in the early days that owned American.
It's, you know, as they said, sometimes you just got to jump in the pool and start swimming and. But it's, it's choppy waters in the pool that is so fragmented. Deal to deal is tough. But what we are seeing is, you know, so one thing that did jump out is like we've talked about it, central states, they're owned by Science Capital and so the private equity backed.
And I do remember when they got into the business, was it 2018, 2019.
They were, everybody kind of looked at them like they're just buying small systems.
So they've acquired 318 systems across 11 states since 2019.
So they are aggressively growing small by small bite after another. They've started. Some of the deals they've done recently have started to pick up but they now have, they're a top 10 player and have created a pretty large platform across the U.S. yeah, you just need
[00:07:10] Speaker F: to be dedicated and get that critical mass.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: You know, that's the hard part.
[00:07:13] Speaker E: Right.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Sticking with it.
[00:07:15] Speaker D: Yeah. And I think expectations. Right. It's a hard business. Right. You buy these systems, a lot of them, particularly small ones, but any of them, they all need upgrades. Even the best systems need upgrades and dedication to O and M. So that's going to happen.
There's the upfront capital and then there you have to get into the rate cases which are, you know, no walk in the park depending because you have to justify everything. So I think that's, that's one thing that's really interesting. The I think the other is that, you know, Texas is basically one of the hot. It is the hottest market by a long shot. I mean we've seen you know, 195 deals in Texas at the same time. We're seeing Nexus who is a large player. Speaking back to mega deals, you know, when Southwest and Corex merged, they've made this big divestment and so you know, they've basically they're divesting about 82,000 connections across 10 states to Cal Water and in American water. So Americans picking up more there. So there's activity.
And I will say this because I don't want to forget this. One of the things separately we've been doing at Bluefield is looking at the utility landscape and We've been using GIS looking at ownership of systems, 65% of utilities in the US are within three miles of another one and they're 49,000 of them.
[00:08:44] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, it's wild how, how much opportunity there is for consolidation and it just doesn't, the pace is so slow.
[00:08:55] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, when you're looking at, you know, when the deal flow just by number of systems is about anywhere from, you know, 115 to 130 on average in any given year, that's just number of systems acquired and they're 49,000. There's a long way to go. And then the other part of that is I think last year there were 65,000 connections acquired by the leading IOUs. So it's not a lot.
And to that point, one thing I would think about, and I think this is one of the things that really come out in this report, is that since 2015, I'm throwing all kinds of numbers at the listener. So I apologize for that, but this is the last one I'll throw out there.
And that is since 2015, there have been 2 million acquisitions of connections. That is in the U.S. 53% of those have been IOUs acquiring other IOU systems. So we're really only talking about 47%, which is what I would say new greenfield or new acquisitions, which is really the true consolidation. So that's really about closer to a million connections.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Yeah, interesting. I mean, I've been thinking for years that that technology is going to be able to allow consolidations to, you know, going to make, make consolidations more efficient. You know, essentially doing the backroom accounting, you know, using technology, software, kind of like Fathom tried to do.
I've bought for years that technology would speed up the rate of these consolidations, but it just hasn't happened yet. Maybe it's still out there, but I don't know.
[00:10:43] Speaker D: Yeah, and you and I are on the same page. I think one, it needs to happen and it's not because at least I'll speak for myself, not an advocate of private owner or municipal owner. It doesn't really matter to me. We do know that small systems struggle more than others. The data does show that, whether it be health based violations, but it's even harder now when you're dealing with workforce and resources as well as financial resources. It's tougher for these smaller systems. That is why they make up the majority. 70% of deals are small and very small systems. But yeah, you know, the question is, I do think what we're seeing on the O and M front so operationally Whether it be Inframark or Veolia, they are deploying technology and solutions for remote monitoring. So that's happening.
But it, you know, so you could argue that it's operational consolidation and maybe not direct ownership consolidation.
[00:11:43] Speaker E: Yeah. Interesting. All right.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Well, Reese, always great talking with you. Very much look forward to seeing this report when it comes out, and we'll
[00:11:51] Speaker E: talk again in a month.
[00:11:53] Speaker D: All right, Dave, happy summer. Happy June. We're almost there.
[00:11:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:56] Speaker E: All right, take care, Rhys.
[00:11:58] Speaker B: We'll talk to you soon.
[00:11:59] Speaker D: Take it easy.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: As always, great information from Bluefield Research and Rhys Tisdale. Now it's time for the main event. Our interview with water sommelier extraordinaire Michael Mashna. So let's get that water flowing.
Well, Michael, welcome to the Water Values podcast.
[00:12:15] Speaker E: Great to have you on. This is a unique topic, but before we get into it, how are you today?
[00:12:21] Speaker A: Thank you for having me. And I'm very well looking forward to our conversation.
[00:12:25] Speaker E: Absolutely.
Could you give us a little background on yourself, Michael, and how you came to the water sector?
[00:12:32] Speaker A: So I'm a food anthropologist by training.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: And what's a food.
[00:12:38] Speaker E: I'm sorry to cut you off, but what's a food anthropologist?
[00:12:42] Speaker A: It's an anthropologist that focuses on food and the integration of food into the society. And I did field work for about three years on a small remote island in Fiji in the 80s.
[00:12:55] Speaker E: Oh, wow. All right. So I'm sorry for cutting you off. Go ahead. You're a food anthropologist by training and
[00:13:02] Speaker A: food anthropologist by training. So food and cooking was always very important to me. And also wine. I had a wine collection of about 500 bottles.
And about 23 years ago, I went to the cardiologist, didn't feel too well.
He told me that I immediately had to stop drinking alcohol and I had to remove the alcohol from my life.
So suddenly there was a bottle missing from the table.
And I looked around the table and noticed there's another bottle there, which was the water bottle I've never paid attention to before.
And when I was drinking wine, it was not to get drunk. There was a bottle of vodka for that in the freezer.
But the wine was really for the epicurean curiosity, sharing with people, discovering new things. And that was suddenly removed. So when I saw the other bottle on the table, I said, how about I provide all the epicurean curiosity I have to water instead of wine? And this was 23 years ago. And needless to say, I did not do any interviews for the next couple of years because it just sounded like a Crazy idea. But slowly the world has accepted this direction and now water is really in the center of it. And almost everyone already knows that water is not just water.
[00:14:24] Speaker E: Yeah, so that's, that's really interesting.
You know, you, you're, you're the founder of Fine Waters and the Fine Water Academy.
Where can you, can you give us some more background on this kind of premium water category?
Because it did, did it exist when you, when you converted 23 years ago? I mean, was it, was it already kind of nascent and you just, you kind of got in on the ground floor, so to speak, or at least an early, an early floor before these premium waters started coming on the market.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: So I think the premium water existed to some aspect. You know, even in Roman times, you know, the Romans wanted to have a feast and imported a naturally carbonated water now called Apollinaris from northern Germany into Rome. So this idea of, you know, taking water serious and having it integrated in Epicurean is not new. I think what most people would credit me for is putting this whole thing together and combining it with the story and a ritual around the water. But what it's really all about is that we're moving a water away from a commodity product to the product with terroir.
And many products have gone through that transition.
Many years ago, many people had salt at home and it was a white substance and it came in a box. That's all you knew about. And if you look at the same households today day, they have three or four different salts from different regions from. With different qualities at home. So many products have gone from being a commodity to being a product with terroir. And the very second you have a product with terroir, you care about the product and you can have now experiences with the product.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:20] Speaker E: So when you say terroir, that T E R R O I R. Right, Is that.
Can you tell us what terroir is?
[00:16:29] Speaker A: So terroir is a word that people love to use in the wine world. And it basically means that the same grape grown in southern France or in New Zealand would have a different expression. And the expressions depends on the soil. And terroir basically means the earth. In French, it means on the soil. And if you think about, we all know, the water cycle, water starts, let's say, as rain, and then it falls on the ground. And then it becomes interesting for a water Somali because the water is now on a journey in the ground. And while it's in the ground, it absorbs minerals. And depending on the geology and the Region where the water has fallen, it absorbs different minerals. And when it emerges at the source, the water has had a different journey and, and has a different character, different flavor, a different taste. And that's what it's all about. Water is not just water. It has character, flavor and taste.
[00:17:29] Speaker E: Yeah. So real quick, I know that there are a lot of premium waters on the market now, but did all this kind of start, I'm kind of curious, back when the bottled water craze started, back maybe in the 70s, when you started seeing more like Perrier and San Pellegrino and Evian and Fiji.
Is that kind of the precursor to what where the market is now?
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a precursor, but there's a pre precursor which is basically the 15 and 1600s in Europe when this idea of going to the spa, going to a place in the countryside where there's fresh air and good drinking water become popular. Rich people went there for a couple of weeks in the summer and they wanted to bring the experience home with them.
So we had in some instances, glass factories next to the sources and they were making bottles, they bottled the water and people brought the water back home into the city. And back then it was considered definitely health product. It was almost medicine and sometimes sold in, in pharmacies.
[00:18:50] Speaker E: Yeah. So it's interesting you say that about the, the, almost the medicinal aspects of it because where, where I live in southern Indiana, there is a, there was a. What was called Pluto water which had a very, you know, sulfur based or a sulfur aspect to it in French Lick, Indiana, where there's a, you know, that's where Al Capone used to go. And there's a lot of history there where the wealthy went to French Lick because of the spa and the Pluto water. But that, it sounds like the same thing.
I just didn't, didn't really put two
[00:19:27] Speaker B: and two together until right now.
[00:19:28] Speaker E: That, that, that's, that that could have been considered a premium water back in the day.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Yeah, it was medicine in some part. It was medicine and it really helped. If you think about it, if you put yourself into London during the Industrial revolution, the surest way to get sick was drinking the water from the pumps in the city. And the very second you drank water that comes from the countryside where the water is not polluted, you got much better because the water was much healthier. So there was definitely medical aspect to it, to drinking water.
[00:20:06] Speaker E: Perfect. So let's talk a little more about this concept of terrar and the origin of water. Because water can hit the earth In a lot of different ways.
You know, there's rain, icebergs, glaciers, artesian springs, natural springs. There's a lot of different ways that we get our water.
So can you kind of talk about the various attributes that each one of these kind of sources gives water? Or is it different depending on where the iceberg is or where the artesian spring is? I mean, I'm just very curious about that.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: Yeah, so it's interesting. Again, I'm going back to the water cycle. You know, this idea of that rain fells, rivers run into the ocean, the ocean evaporates, clouds form and it starts again. So when a cycle, of course, doesn't have a beginning. And we have to keep in mind how old water is, right, that some of the water we're drinking is older than the sun and it's not from our planet. But that might be a different story. But let's stick with the rain for a second. So the rain falls and what happens next gives water the character.
So if, for example, you drink iceberg water, that is rain that fell maybe 4,000 years ago was frozen in an iceberg. Now the iceberg broke off, drifted into the ocean, the water was collected and is put in your bottle. So you can assume that that water tastes very similar to water rainwater that is maybe collected in Tasmania, put in a bottle, Both waters would be very light, very natural and very soft because they never touched the ground. They didn't have any contact with rock formations to absorb minerals. So they're very low in tds, total dissolved solids or minerality.
But the very second the water moves into the ground, it starts picking up minerals and trace element on its journey. And now it depends how long is the water in the ground?
There are some sources where the water is maybe one year or two year, you know, in the Alps, in Austria, in northern Italy, there are some sources. And when you drink this water, it has a little bit of minerals, but not very much because it didn't have enough time to be in the aquifer and in the geology.
And there are waters that are much longer in the geology, maybe a couple of hundred years, some 1,000 years. And there are some waters that are from the last ice age that are 14,000 years years old. So the duration of how long the water is in contact with the geology and what kind of geology it is, is it softer rock so the water can absorb more minerals, or is it harder rock? The water cannot absorb the minerals. This is what gives water character. This is what makes water difference when it emerges at a Source.
[00:23:09] Speaker E: Yeah. So can you give us some examples of premium waters that incorporate these various or some premium waters that have these various flavor profiles?
[00:23:27] Speaker A: Yeah. So Svalbardi from Svalbard, from the island, the very Nordic islands in Norway would be an example of the first one. It's about 4,000 year old iceberg water.
The waters from. With a very low minerality that's probably one or two years old. A water from northern Italy, Lauretana would be an example, and Vossa from Austria. Both waters have a very low, super low minerality and they're probably just a snow melt from last year or two years ago.
And a water like Iskilt from Denmark would have been in the ground for about 7,000 years. It has a kind of a medium minerality. So you definitely notice if you compare to the other waters that it has more substance.
Then there are some waters, for example from Min from the Czech Republic.
We know that this is water from the last ice age. It has been carbon dated and it's 10,000 year old water that you're drinking.
So this is what gives water the character and this is what makes water interesting. And this allows us to engage with water because water is not just water. It now has different flavors, different taste. We can also pair it with food.
[00:24:40] Speaker E: So Michael, tell me a little about pairing water with food. How would you go about.
And I guess this is where we bring in your food anthropologist that gets to come out here. But how would you go about pairing water with food?
[00:24:58] Speaker A: So let's figure out what gives water character. We talked about the, the mineral content, the minerality again measured in TDS that goes from maybe single digits, you know, 5 to 10, up to maybe 8,000, maybe 10,000 milligrams per liter in minerality. So that gives us a wide range of the water feeling very light or the water feels heavier. Then of course we have the carbonation in water.
Most waters that you're drinking are artificially carbonated, meaning the water emerges as still water at the Source and artificially CO2 is put into the bottle and it gives it the carbonation. There are some very rare sources that have natural carbonation, meaning the carbonation is already in the water when it emerges at the source.
It's very rare.
And then this gives the water a slightly different characteristics because the bubbles are better integrated, they last longer, and the bubbles feel a little bit softer than the artificial carbon.
So we have the mineral content, the carbonation, and then we have the ph of the water. Is the water alkaline with a higher ph into the 8, 9, or tens. Or is the water acidic with a lower pH, 5, 6, or something. And if the water's at 7, then it would be very neutral in the middle.
So those are the main characteristics that give water its flavor and taste.
And then it also depends on the hardness of the water. So how much calcium and magnesium is in the water, because the less calcium, magnesium is the water, the softer the water feels. And the more magnesium and calcium is in the water, the harder the water feels. So those four characteristics is something that we can now use to pair water with food. Let's say you have an oyster, you have sashimi, you have something that's very, very subtle food. You don't want to overwhelm it with water. And I would recommend to take a water with the low, a super low minerality with it with a fairly neutral pH.
And the water should be very soft.
Let's suppose you eat a steak or game, something that's very big, bold. You want to have a water that stands up to your food. And you would use a water maybe slightly carbonated, maybe natural carbonated, with a much higher mineral content. You know, maybe 2,000, maybe 3,000 would be a perfect match for this. So if you think of wine pairing, low minerality waters would be white wines, and the water that have a higher minerality would be the red wines.
[00:27:43] Speaker E: Got. It's absolutely fascinating.
You know, when we were rethinking water,
[00:27:50] Speaker B: which is the first time I had
[00:27:51] Speaker E: tasted some of these premium waters, I was amazed at the range of the tastes and not just the pace, but the hardness, and it was fascinating. And one of those waters was one that had traveled in an aquifer from,
[00:28:11] Speaker B: I think he said, New Zealand to Australia.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: Yes. That's the. That's the famous three Base.
[00:28:20] Speaker E: Yeah. Can you.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: Yeah, It's a fascinating story, so I'd
[00:28:24] Speaker E: love to hear that. Hear that story again.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Yeah. So there's a water called three Base. It comes from Australia, a little bit south of Melbourne. Someone discovered a source, very small source in there in their backyard. You know, properties are large there. They discovered this in the backyard.
They like the water. It has a fairly high mineral content, about 1300, and a pH of around 8.
So the water, when you drink it, feels very velvety soft.
So it's really a very characterful water.
And when they started looking close into the water, they discovered that this is rain that fell in New Zealand about 2000 years ago.
It's kind of fascinating if you think that New Zealand was settled by the Maori about 1350 so this is rain that fell in New Zealand when no humans lived there. And there's a very deep aquifer that connects New Zealand with Australia.
And 2000 years later, the water emerges at the source.
So as you said, it's a fantastic story. If I go to a party, I don't bring wine or champagne, I bring a bottle of water.
Then I tell the story like the story of three base. And what do you think people will remember from the party? The champagne, the wine or the water story? It's of course, the water story. So the fascinating aspect of what we're doing is that people haven't looked, taken a close look at water. They think water is just water. But as soon as you take a very much closer look, a new world opens up and people are fascinated by this new world.
[00:30:03] Speaker E: Yeah. So can you talk a little about kind of the current market? And where would I even go in my community to find or to buy premium water?
[00:30:22] Speaker A: So that for me is of course, the biggest frustration is that I tell people the beautiful story of all the waters. I tell them how they taste, how they can integrate it with their food, and then they go to a restaurant and the question they get in the restaurant is still or sparkling.
And even if they go to a, let's say a high end restaurant, one star, two star Michelin restaurant, all they get is stiller sparkling.
And it's not a different still or sparkling. It's always the same still or sparkling. It's in most cases, you know, San Pellegrino and Panna, which is very frustrating because you have maybe a couple of hundred wines on the wine list, but when it comes to water, it's still a sparkling. So I think that needs to change. We need to have water menus very soon and we need to have restaurants take water seriously, especially in times now when the wine sales is going down. But you're absolutely right, it's very hard for the consumer to find those waters. There are some portfolio distributors that have a larger selection of waters. You know, desalination drinks in Washington where you can order water and they sent the water to you, but it's still a hassle to get a nice selection. My recommendation, if you live in big cities, try some ethnic supermarkets, especially European Eastern European supermarkets. They usually have a large selection of waters that they enjoy over there and they bring it over here.
[00:31:51] Speaker E: Is there a reason that, I mean, just most of the waters we've talked about, with the exception of
[00:32:00] Speaker B: the New
[00:32:01] Speaker E: Zealand rainwater that traveled through the aquifer to Australia, but It seems like most of them are European in nature. Is that, is that because that's where the market is centered. Are there any premium waters from Africa or Asia or elsewhere?
[00:32:18] Speaker A: Yeah, they have really good water everywhere. It's just that Europe is doing this for much longer time than in the US So they have more brands. They also have a little bit more awareness of the difference of waters. In Italy, you have more than 600 different waters. Germany probably 500 or so. And people have expression. So that's why you have more brands and that's why they come over here. But we have fantastic water here in the US Many, many great sources, great waters. But the brand and the marketing of the US Water is still lacking a little bit of sophistication of the European counterparts. We have great water in Asia and especially South America. Australia, New Zealand are really, really emerging markets for premium bottled water.
[00:33:05] Speaker E: Interesting. So what needs to happen in order for the, the market to really develop? I mean, do you have any, any thoughts on that?
[00:33:15] Speaker A: Lots of thoughts, lots of ideas. And I'm, I'm happy we are, we're talking here because just starting about two years ago, and especially last year, I find myself talking at least once a week or every 10 days to people with money. I mean, private equity investors.
So I can see that people see that there's something happening in the category, and that's a totally new development. For the first 18 years or so, I never talked to any money people. No one thought that there would be any money, any business to be made with water. But people now slowly becoming aware, and I think money is moving into the category, and I think this money will solve the distribution problem.
So hopefully I'm working on a couple of projects. Hopefully soon we will have a more consistent distribution of a portfolio of water, and that will give more consumer access and also hopefully get more water into restaurants and water menus.
[00:34:16] Speaker E: So, Michael, for someone who goes to the store and is looking for a premium water, what kind of advice would
[00:34:24] Speaker B: you give that person?
[00:34:25] Speaker A: I would just encourage people to not look for the best water.
How boring would it be if you try to find the best wine and then that's the wine you're drinking for the rest of your life? Isn't the beauty of wine that you discover something new every time you know what you like, but sometimes you go out of your comfort zone and you try something new? And I would encourage people really to do anything with water.
You maybe like a water, continue buying it, but also buy something else, Try to get more experiences, see something that's different. Try it with food and see how it integrates. And I think the most important aspect is, and that's very unfortunate here in the US Is if you go to the supermarket, you can assume that probably 50 to 60% of the water that you see in bottles in your supermarket is processed tap water.
So it looks like premium water. It sometimes tells you it's smart water, sometimes it tells you it's essential.
This is marketing. This is tap water that runs into a factory in your city. The water is polished, meaning some minerals are removed, some other minerals are added and the water is filled into a plastic bottle and you carry that plastic bottle home, basically drinking the same have in your tap. So if you buy water in the supermarket, make sure you buy water from a natural source, real water, then you will have experiences with water.
[00:35:49] Speaker E: That's great.
So you know, Michael, you've been, this has been fascinating again. I mean I thought I learned a lot when we met at Rethinking Water. I've learned even more here.
So I appreciate your time.
So before we say goodbye, do you have a leave behind message that you would like to leave with the listener?
[00:36:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I think the leave behind is that what is a natural product with terroir that holds experiences and can give wellness. If you think about that, then you have covered the whole spectrum of water is not just water perfect?
[00:36:29] Speaker E: Michael, thanks so much for your time.
[00:36:30] Speaker B: For those who want to find out
[00:36:32] Speaker E: more about you, more about premium waters in your work, where can they go to get that information?
[00:36:37] Speaker A: Very easy. Findwaters.com fine waters1 word plural.com Perfect.
[00:36:45] Speaker E: Again, Michael, thanks so much for your time. I very much look forward to enjoying some premium water here in the near future. And we'll talk to you again soon.
[00:36:54] Speaker B: Thanks so much.
[00:36:55] Speaker A: Thank you for having me.
[00:36:57] Speaker E: Absolutely.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: Michael was absolutely phenomenal and we just scratched the surface of the premium water segment. If you haven't had the opportunity to taste premium waters with a water sommelier like Michael, you are missing out. So put it on your bucket list.
Well, I'd love to know what you thought about the interview. Please check out the Show Notes page for information and links on this episode. Just Google the Water Values Podcast and click the first link that comes up. That's our home on the web.
As longtime listeners know, Bluefield Research and the Water Values Podcast are not affiliates. We are just, we just have a joint marketing arrangement. And as part of that joint marketing arrangement, Bluefield Research is nice enough to give the Water Values Podcast a home on the web.
Well, you can email me at david.mcgimpseydentins.com and you can sign up for the newsletter at that aforementioned landing page as well.
Thank you again for tuning in and I hope you make it a great day. Plus, I want to give a huge thank you to our sponsors again. Sponsors of the Water values podcast include 1898 and Company, Woodard and Curran, Entera Xylem, the American Waterworks Association, Black and Veatch, and Advanced Drainage Systems. And this show would not be possible without those great companies and true industry leaders.
And thank you again for listening and for subscribing to the Water Values Podcast. Your support is truly appreciated. In closing, please remember to keep the core message of the Water Values Podcast in mind as you go about your daily business. Water is our most valuable resource, so please join me by going out into
[00:38:29] Speaker E: the world and acting like it's.
[00:39:03] Speaker C: You've been listening to the Water Values Podcast. Thank you for spending some of your day with my dad and me.
[00:39:09] Speaker F: Well, thank you for tuning in to the disclaimer. I'm a lawyer licensed in Indiana and Colorado and nothing in this podcast should be taken as providing legal advice or or as establishing an attorney client relationship with you or with anyone else. Additionally, nothing in this podcast should be considered a solicitation for professional employment. I'm just a lawyer that finds water issues interesting and that believes greater public education is needed about water issues. And that includes enhancing my own education about water issues because no one knows everything about water.
