http://www.nationalreview.com/article/455235/raw-water-movement-mocks-human-suffering

"Every few months, there’s a new trend that promises life-changing health benefits...

'Raw water' is the newest such trend.

Customers are paying for the privilege of drinking water that is unfiltered, untreated, and unsterilized -- and apparently they want it so badly that it is often out of stock. Numerous brands have emerged to cater to this fast-growing niche. A fool and his money are soon parted, and in free countries we should accept that. But this particular fad makes me recoil with disgust.

...

To put this absurdity in perspective, consider that in the world’s 'Middle Income Countries,' per capita income ranges from just under $3 to $34 a day, and that 'raw water' bottles in the US cost $36.99 each. [NZD $52]

Or, put another way, in order to ingest 'raw water,' the cause of 20 percent of child deaths worldwide, rich Americans have taken to spending more than most people in the world earn in a week.

In doing so, not only are they rejecting millennia of widely understood science, but they are putting their lives and the lives of those around them at risk, in order to indulge in a patronizing play-act of poverty that puts even so-called slum tourism to shame."