WATER: A “VOLUPTUOUS” RESOURCE

Are we missing the point?

Few summers ago my wife and I went to California, to the Napa valley, where inevitably we met a lot of wine enthusiastic. Between glasses, we were amused in learning fascinating jargon related to wine tasting. “Wine descriptors”, they call it.

We learned that a wine can be velvety, laser-like or angular (an angular wine is like putting a triangle in your mouth, really). It can be chewy, or taste like petrol (these days these wines are particularly cheap, eh eh), or “cat pee” (really, really!).

Though I find them quite amusing, I do understand that the level of ingenuity of such descriptors only reflects the level of sophistication we have reached within the wine industry.

I had very mixed feelings, however, when I bumped into these kind of terms used during water tasting competitions… Well, first, you may be amazed to know how many events of such kind are out there (the largest in the world is coming up!).  There are even the Olympics for bottled water! Second, you may be caught aback in knowing that water can be expressive, explosive, rejuvenating or, like my high-school girlfriend, voluptuous(i.e. provocative and sexually alluring).

Is this for real?

In 2013, 783 million people did not have access to clean water, and almost 2.5 billion did not have access to adequate sanitation. Water is a scarce resource, and it is becoming increasingly so in many cities around the world. From the US to India, one out of every four cities in the world is found to be water stressed. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.

Just THINK. For many people in the world, water is necessary. Period.

I am a gentle^*, sweet^* guy, quite reticent^* in making decisive^* judgments. I prefer expressing structured^*,consistent^*, occasionally subtle^* opinions. Though appetizing^* and intellectually refreshing^*, I find the use of water descriptors quite flabby^*, dirty^*, and utterly sour^*. 

(All tasty* descriptors taken from the wine and water industry). Let us leave them for wine, shall we? 

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