What Is Bottled Water And Is It Perfect For Drinking?

My son Gareth who is just 15 years old drinks water like it is going out of fashion. When you go out to play soccer you see every one with a water bottle...what is going on? Here are my personal views on this subject ...

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the bottled water market environment.

Bottled water is perhaps the fastest growing market of all the food and beverage industry.

The term bottled water is not used to refer only to one single product. It can be used to rank different products, depending on the particular country. Read the article on how to select a residential water filter here

Types of bottled water

There are basically three type of bottled water. According to Christine Ferrier, ..."natural mineral water is, in the European Union, an extremely specific product responding to strict criteria. It is wholesome underground still or aerated water, protected against pollution hazards and characterized by a constant level of minerals and trace elements". This water cannot be treated, nor added any exogenous elements, such as flavors or additives.

United States require natural mineral water to have a minimum level of 250 ppm total dissolved solids. Spring water in Europe is also underground water protected against pollution hazards. It cannot be treated but it does not need to have a constant mineral composition.

Water from different springs can be sold under the same brand name.

In United States, spring water is derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth.

Water below the surface has been purified...

Purified water is surface or underground water that has been treated in order to be suitable for human consumption. It differs from tap water only through the way it is distributed (in bottles rather than through pipes) and its price.

In addition to these three major categories, the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) considers four other categories of bottled waters:

artesian water / artesian well water
drinking water
sparkling water
well water.

These different categories of bottled water cause consumers to have problems identifying the products they buy. In some cases, bottled water is actually bottled tap water. At the time of writing this article it has just been disclosed that in South Africa a major international bottled water company is bottling and selling water sourced from the water board ... this was never disclosed openly.

You can read a wide range of water usage articles. They discuss the use of water in the house and home ... topics covered include filters, heaters, softeners and water in the garden.