Almost All of The Residents of Lonelitown Drink Cheap Bottled Mineral Water

Question: Almost all of the residents of Lonelitown drink cheap bottled mineral water, and not the water supplied by the municipality. Therefore, the municipality should reduce the price paid for water if they are to encourage residents to go back to drinking it.

The above conclusion is properly drawn if which of the following is assumed?

1. The bottled water is imported from springs overseas.
2. The municipality’s water supply is filtered through a sophisticated process.
3. Residents of Lonelitown are not dedicated to the livelihood of their municipality.
4. The price is the factor that most influences the resident’s choice of drinking water.
5. Bottled mineral water received far more public attention through advertising than municipal water does.

Answer: D

Explanation: This is a GMAT critical reasoning question. An assumption is an implied hypothesis. So we are looking for something that is implied in the argument. In case it is wrong or maybe disable the argument.

Let’s go through each one of the available options and choose the one that fits the best.

Option A: The bottled water is imported from springs overseas.
Option A states that the bottled water in the argument is imported from springs located in some other country. The argument is not talking about where the bottled water comes from, it’s not relevant. It talks about the municipality's water and how the residents of the town drink cheap bottled water. This statement is incorrect because it does not explain why the author thinks that residents would drink municipal water if it was cheaper. So, Option A is incorrect.

Option B: The municipality’s water supply is filtered through a sophisticated process.
Option B states that the water supply of the municipality is filtered through a sophisticated process. Again, the statement is not relevant to the argument presented in the passage. We are not discussing the filtering process of the municipality. It does not tell us why the residents would drink municipality water if it was cheaper. So, Option B is incorrect.

Option C: Residents of Lonelitown are not dedicated to the livelihood of their municipality.
Options C states that the residents of the town are not dedicated to the livelihood of the municipality. This statement presents a premise about the residents of the town. It is irrelevant to the argument even if it supports the conclusion because what we are looking for is an assumption. So, Option C is incorrect.

Option D: The price is the factor that most influences the resident’s choice of drinking water.
According to Option D, the price is the major factor that influences the choice of the residents of drinking water. As per this statement, the author assumes that the residents are buying bottled water because of financial reasons. This can be the assumption as it was mentioned that the residents are buying cheap bottled water. So, Option D is correct.

Option E: Bottled mineral water received far more public attention through advertising than municipal water does.
Option E states that bottled water received more attention from the public because of its high advertisements as compared to municipal water. If this was the assumption of the author, he/she would have recommended using more advertisements for promoting municipal water. But that is not the case. So, Option E is incorrect.

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