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FREE H20 – JUST $1.50!

A modern-day alchemist thinks he’s figured out a way to make money flow out of New York faucets.

Craig Zucker is bottling city water and trying to sell it to New Yorkers.

Zucker, who came to New York from Ohio in 2003, dreamed up Tap’d NY bottled water last year.

“I didn’t grow up with bottled water. In my family, we drank from the tap,” he said.

“When I came to New York, I could tell right away that the water was better, even if I didn’t know why.”

Tap’d NY is not exactly what you’d get from the kitchen sink, though. Chlorine and impurities are removed through reverse osmosis, leaving only the purest water.

“We are a for-profit business, but we have a message, which is that water should be kept honest and local. Right now, we let Fiji and France ship water into New York, which is an insult to New Yorkers,” Zucker said.

At the Abingdon Market in the West Village, the product, selling for $1.50 a bottle, wasn’t exactly flying off the shelves.

“Seriously? Tap water?” said a bemused Steve Hrycelak, 28, of Harlem. “I think this was an episode of ‘Golden Girls.’ Sophia was trying to sell water from her hose. This idea is 20 years old.”

Nathan Dilworth, 25, from the West Village, said, “That’s pretty funny. Bottled water with a sense of humor.”

And Karinda Mutabazi, 27, who came to New York from Australia seven months ago, had only one comment: “America is crazy.”

Zucker says people should fill their glasses from the faucet, and turn to Tap’d NY when they’re on the go.

For now, 20-ounce bottles are available at stores and coffee shops in Greenwich Village and Chelsea.

Zucker isn’t paying for the raw product – just his water bill. “Like all New Yorkers,” he said.

“I really liked the organic, Earth-friendly approach of Whole Foods and the greenmarkets, and was looking for a product to apply that notion to,” said Zucker, whose previous businesses include the Hamptons Honey Co.

“Water was a really good fit – all it takes to get it from the reservoirs in Westchester is gravity and pipes.”

Zucker’s friends and family can’t decide if he’s a genius or a nut.

“Either they said it was the most brilliant idea they’d ever heard, or the stupidest,” he said.

Additional reporting by Marcie Young