Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

The Man Behind the 'Raw Water' Craze Just Explained Why He Started It, and It Sounds Even Worse Than We Thought

The Man Behind the 'Raw Water' Craze Just Explained Why He Started It, and It Sounds Even Worse Than We Thought
Mukhande Singh (formerly Christopher Sandborn)/Live Water

Summary: The raw water trend in California is all the rage—but it’s also dangerous.

Do you long for the good old days? When times were simpler, the pace was slower. You know, the days before water was treated to eliminate deadly diseases like E.coli and cholera? Well then, Silicon Valley has the trend for you: raw water.

Raw water is unfiltered, untreated, unsterilized spring water that will set you back upwards of $37 a jug. That is, if you can find it. It’s in such high demand in the Silicon Valley area that it’s often out of stock.


“It has a vaguely mild sweetness, a nice smooth mouth feel, nothing that overwhelms the flavor profile,” said Kevin Freeman, a shift manager at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco’s Mission District, which stocks Live Water’s raw water.

Mukhande Singh (formerly Christopher Sandborn) is the founder of Live Water, which sells raw water in artistic glass globes.

Singh is a long-haired, posture-perfect guru-type who said that “real water” should expire after a few months. “It’s most fresh within one lunar cycle of delivery,” said Singh. “If it sits around too long, it’ll turn green. People don’t even realize that because all the water’s dead, so they never see it turn green.”

Singh described tap water as “toilet water with birth control drugs in them,” along with healthy doses of chloramine and fluoride. “Call me a conspiracy theorist,” said conspiracy-theorist Singh, “but it’s a mind control drug that has no benefit to dental health.” (No evidence has been found that fluoride is a mind-control drug. The American Dental Association, along with numerous scientists, are convinced that fluoride prevents tooth decay based on decades of scientific studies.)

While adherents are lining up to buy into the raw water trend, scientists are calling it dangerous.

“Without water treatment, there’s acute and then chronic risks,” said Dr. Donald Hensrud, the director of the Healthy Living Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. These risks include E.coli bacteria, viruses, parasites and carcinogenic compounds that are found in raw water. “There’s evidence all over the world of this, and the reason we don’t have those conditions is because of our very efficient water treatment.”

Bill Marler, a food-safety advocate and a lawyer, agreed. “Almost everything conceivable that can make you sick can be found in water,” he said. For instance, unfiltered water can contain animal feces, which spreads Giardia—an illness characterized by vomiting and diarrhea that results in about 4,600 hospitalizations a year. Hepatitis A can also be spread through untreated water. Hepatitis A resulted in 20 deaths in California alone in 2017.

However, raw water devotees remain devoted—if uncommitted on the proper name for the stuff. “I don’t like ‘raw water’ because it sort of makes people think of raw sewage,” said Daniel Vitalis, host of the podcast, “ReWild Yourself,” which promotes gathering water and hunting for food. “When you say ‘live water,’ that’s going to trigger a lot of people who are into physics and biology.”

Marler is more pointed. “You can’t stop consenting adults from being stupid,” he said. “But we should at least try.”

More from News

Man and woman in bed
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

People Who Slept With An Ex's Sibling Break Down The Aftermath

Though everyone has different thresholds for what is acceptable in a relationship and what they're okay with experiencing, there are certain things that are generally no-nos, like cheating, dating someone's best friend, and dating someone's family member.

But there are exceptions to everything.

Keep ReadingShow less
Alan Tudyk; Will Smith
Toon’d In with Jim Cummings; I, Robot / 20th Century Fox

Alan Tudyk's I, Robot Snub

Turns out the real threat in I, Robot wasn’t the robots—it was Will Smith’s press team.

At least, that’s how Alan Tudyk remembers it.

Keep ReadingShow less
Helen Mirren; Jimmy Fallon
@fallontonight/Instagram

Helen Mirren Leaves Jimmy Fallon Flabbergasted After Claiming Tomatoes Are 'Bisexual'

In theory, growing food at home should, in the long run, save you money by turning seeds, sunlight, soil, and water into food.

In reality, sometimes you are Jimmy Fallon and your plant gives exactly one tomato, and then Dame Helen Mirren horrifies you with gardening tips on air.

Keep ReadingShow less
Gerika Mudra; Buffalo Wild Wings
Gender Justice/YouTube; Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Lesbian Teen Sues Buffalo Wild Wings After Server Forced Her To Prove She Was Female In Bathroom

A Minnesota teen is suing Buffalo Wild Wings after a server allegedly made her "prove" she was female to use the bathroom.

Eighteen-year-old lesbian Gerika Mudra filed a discrimination suit against the wings chain earlier this month claiming that the server forced her to show her her breasts after accusing her of being male.

Keep ReadingShow less
Brandon Johnson; Donald Trump
Patrick McDermott/Getty Images; Win McNamee/Getty Images

Chicago Mayor Offers Perfect Clapback Response After Trump Calls Him 'Incompetent'

When someone is petty and childish, people of grace and dignity may try to ignore their words. But sometimes others demand a response.

Such is what happened to the mayor of Chicago, Illinois.

Keep ReadingShow less