SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The famed “natural mineral water” baths at Saratoga Spa State Park have been diluted with regular tap water for the past two decades, state officials confirmed Monday.
The park’s baths attract about 14,000 customers a year who pay $20 for the privilege of soaking in the bubbly water.
“I thought I was bathing in pure mineral water,” Kristina Weilbacher, 22, of San Antonio, Texas, told the New York Post, which first reported the situation. “I definitely should have been told.”
State parks spokeswoman Eileen Larrabee said Monday that the state has never had a consumer complaint about the water mix, but she said the state wants to make sure people are fully informed about the makeup of the baths.
“We need to clarify that practice,” Larrabee said.
The state and the company that operates the baths, Xanterra Parks &Resorts, mix heated public drinking water with the chilly carbonated mineral water pumped up from more than 1,000 feet below the surface, the newspaper said.
Larrabee said it was not immediately clear why the mixing started. The Post said it began when a mineral water heater used by the park since the 1930s broke down.
“They’re lying to the public. It’s the state committing fraud,” former Saratoga Springs Mayor Raymond Watkin told the Post.
There was no immediate response Monday to calls seeking comment from Xanterra’s Colorado headquarters.
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