Question:
Distributors say that the bulk of extra water deliveries this week were made to some of Toronto's poshest residential neighbourhoods. in detail?

Answer: For the first time in company history, Culligan Bottled Water has several of its delivery people on call in the days before New Year's Eve to cope with a flurry of unexpected calls and panic, chief executive Robert Woodworth said.

Still, it seems that most Torontonians have yet to become wild-eyed with Y2K worries. Despite the bottled-water boom, there has been little caterwauling over other goods.

Indeed, Torontonians appear to have shrugged off concern that grocery stores and banks might be affected. Some banks, grocery stores and hardware stores said yesterday that demand has been steady this month, relative to last year, for everything from cash to flashlights and canned soup.

And while the purveyors of bottled water say they are pleased with such buoyant sales this month, in January they are likely to taper off dramatically, they predict.