Few visitors question water, but bottled water sales soar
Few customers of area restaurants are questioning the quality of water served, but area food stores report selling up to triple their normal amount of bottled water.
A check of area businesses Saturday found that several restaurants were conserving by offering water only if requested or by using dishwater longer. One is even serving private well water to customers. However, none has switched to bottled water, and although retail sales of bottled water were reported to have been brisk in recent days, sales may be leveling off as the water crisis continues. Brenda McGinness, co-owner with her husband, David of McGillicuddy's Restaurant in Marion, said that, as a conservation measure, servers were not providing ice water unless customers requested it.
She said she noticed long ago that many diners didn't drink the water; therefore, a great deal of it was wasted. So, policy at McGillicuddy's is, you can have water if you want it., but it's "don't ask, don't get." And tap water is what diners are served.
At Stone City Café in Marion, Deborah Cook, co-owner, still was serving water without being asked, and tap water was being used for drinking and for brewing coffee.
"We just have a habit to take it to each table when people are seated," she said.
At Pizza Hut of Marion, Roy Wiggans, shift manager, said there was "no problem with the water."
"We serve customers what they want, and if they order coffee, they automatically get a glass of water, too," he said.
If a customer orders a soft drink or iced tea, water is not served unless the customer requests it.
Jay Smith of Gambino's said water was served "only if they ask for it."
But the tap water he's serving at the pizza restaurant is from a private well at his home.
Smith said restaurant workers were conserving by using their dishwater a little longer before changing it.
At Kingfisher's Inn at Marion County Lake, diners automatically receive glass of iced tap water, co-owner Kathy Sprowls said Saturday.
"A few, just a very few, have asked if it's fit to drink, that's all," she said.
Meanwhile, bottled water has been a big seller in area stores. Greg Carlson of Carlsons' IGA in Marion, said:
"Yes, we're selling a lot of bottled water — Twice as many as usual, I'd say, of the 5-gallon containers, and three times as many of the one-gallon ones. The small bottles are not going so fast."
However, at Duckwall's, a sales associate said the store was not selling a lot of bottled water Saturday and had not sold a great deal of it earlier in the week, either, at least not when she was on duty.
At Ampride, bottled water sales were definitely up, a sales associate said. She said she had sold 50 twenty-ounce bottles between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday. That's 10 per hour.
At Casey's, an employee said not a lot of bottled water was being sold.
When 350 bikers with Biking Across Kansas visited Marion Wednesday night and Thursday morning, they bought a lot of water, the employee said, but it was not related to the Marion Reservoir algae situation.
"There's been no great run on it here since Wednesday," she said.
At Marion Manor, an employee said: "We try to be pretty conservative with water use all of the time."
She said the long-term care facility had not started using plastic utensils and plastic or paper plates because residents don't like them.
"If we need to do it, we need to be told so," she said, indicating a desire by the facility to "do its civic duty."
