Dear Beyoncé,

I doubt my name is familiar to you, but I did write an open letter to your husband a while back. Did he ever read it? Perhaps he was dealing with other issues back then.

Basically, I tried to remind him of the value of water, given his comments that water was free. But that’s all water under the bridge. (See what I did there?) Now, I need to address a comment you made. Indulge me please. Everybody needs a shtick, and writing letters to celebrities about water issues is mine.

This came to my attention because the watermelon water startup company you invested in is moving its headquarters to Denver. And when you first got involved with WTRMLN WTR, you said “it’s the future of clean, natural hydration.”

To quote one of your more recent song titles: “Hold up!”

Clean, natural hydration is our gig. While your watermelon water may have certain health benefits, it also has one ingredient many people try to avoid: sugar.

That’s an issue with many so-called alternatives to drinking water, particularly with popular sports and energy drinks. They’re loaded with sugar. I’m sure you know water has zero calories, zero sugar and very low sodium. With all due respect, that makes tap water the past, present and future of clean, natural hydration. Would it be a cliché if I dropped a mic here?

Perhaps this feels like I’m nitpicking, but we promote clean, fresh tap water as the primary source of hydration, and a much better alternative to juice or other beverages that contain sugar. This is even more important in some of our Latino communities, where some residents come from countries where tap water is undrinkable. And tap water is much more affordable. Essentially, it gets back to the point I was trying to make in my first letter to your husband — the value of water.

So thanks for listening, and I wish you continued success in your career and your family. I hope you don’t take offense to anything I’ve said. I have noticed that when somebody gives you lemons, you tend to make lemonade.

Yours in fidelity,

Steve Snyder