[AP/SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. 19/03/2007 02:10 ET] - The famous "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 a bubbly mineral water bath.

"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.

"They're lying to the public. It's the state committing fraud," Former Saratoga Springs Mayor Raymond Watkin told the Post.

"The report that ordinary tap water has been secretly used at the baths could damage Saratoga's reputation and be harmful to business and tourism," State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said.