Brief Guide to Mineral Water

Mineral water is basically precisely what it claims to be: water that is cherished for its special mineral content. For many centuries, certain health benefits have been ascribed to natural springs: Spa  the town in Belgium which has given its name to the worldwide phenomenon of natural water-treatment centres  has been famed for its mineral waters since the 14th century. Today, all bottles of Natural Mineral Water have to show a list of their minerals. These are likely to include calcium, chloride, bicarbonates, magnesium, nitrates, potassium, silica, sodium, sulphates, among others.

By virtue of EU regulations, certain high-quality bottled waters can be labelled 'Natural Mineral Water'. Essentially, this is the best bottled water you can buy. It has to be bottled at source, and come from a single, unpolluted supply of consistent quality, where the water has been naturally filtered by layers of rock (usually volcanic and/or limestone or sandstone). The only permitted additive is carbon dioxide (to make it fizzy); Natural Mineral Water cannot be subjected to any other form of treatment, so is, essentially, as nature made it. Commercial producers must be registered with, and are monitored by, the local authority and the Food Standards Agency. And they have to list the mineral content on the labels.

Labels of Natural Mineral Water will list not only the minerals under a 'typical analysis', but should also give the Total Dry Residue, or Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), at 180ºC, which is an indication of the quantity of minerals that would be left if the water was boiled off at that temperature. This figure is likely to be in the region of 130 milligrams per litre (mg/l), which is the equivalent of a small pinch of salt. Such a low concentration is considered a good thing by those in search of a water that has a neutral flavour, with a pure, clean finish. Some mineral waters, however, have a rather higher TDS value, and as a result a more distinctive flavour. The Italian water San Pellegrino, for instance, has a TDS of 1109 mg/l, and the French water Badoit 1200 mg/l. Mineral waters associated with healing powers may have TDS values many times higher still. Most standard mineral waters have a pH (acidity) value fairly close to pure water (pH 7.0); the lower the pH, the more acid the water.
See minerals.co.uk

Most sparkling or fizzy mineral water is simply ordinary mineral water with carbon dioxide added, to make the bubbles. In the rare cases of 'naturally sparkling mineral water', the original source contains gas, giving it the bubbles, or at least an effervescence. But in some cases, the bottlers (such as Perrier) extract the natural gas found with the water and then reintroduce it to provide a consistent fizzy effect.

There are two other grades of bottled water besides Natural Mineral Water (NMW). Spring Water (SW) sounds the same, but in fact can legitimately be treated to bring it up to the required commercial standard, so it is in general considered inferior or less reliable (although NMWs usually start off as SWs, until they complete the lengthy registration process). Table Water (TW) can come from a number of sources, including the public water supply (i.e. tap water); it can be treated and purified, and minerals may even be added. There is very little to distinguish Table Water from tap water, except the convenience of having it in a bottle

In fact, not much. Not at least in the UK  where 99.6 per cent of tap water is deemed to meet the stringent standards set by the Drinking Water Inspectorate. Tap water costs a tiny fraction of the price of bottled mineral water. Its main disadvantage is that it has been disinfected with chlorine, and in some parts of the UK this treatment is all too evident in both its smell and taste. Chlorine, however, can be removed by using a charcoal filter. In some areas, fluoride has also been added to tap water, in a controversial strategy to improve dental care; this cannot be removed by most ordinary filters.

Well, it depends who you ask. Some people swear that their chosen brand of mineral water gives them all kinds of health benefits. But many scientists, nutritionists and medical researchers are less than convinced. The British Heart Foundation puts it like this: 'Our body's mineral requirements are easily met by the food we eat. The water we drink has little impact.' And the World Health Organization has concluded: 'Although certain mineral waters may be useful in providing essential micro-nutrients, such as calcium, WHO is unaware of any convincing evidence to support the beneficial effects of consuming such mineral waters.'
www.bhf.org.uk
www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs256/en/

The British public spends £1.7 billion a year on bottled water  and about half the population does so, regularly. Why? In some parts of the world, bottled water is the only safe form of water, but this is certainly not the case in the UK. Our expensive taste for mineral water can only be ascribed to three main reasons: fashion (hence the emphasis given to publicity and the styling of the product); a belief that mineral water is better for you; and - perhaps the most important of all - it tastes better.

If you think mineral water tastes better than tap water, then that is a fair reason to buy it. But if this is your argument, you should first accept the challenge of a blind tasting. Take equal quantities of all of, or just some of, the following:

• one or two of your favourite (still) mineral waters
• some filtered tap water
• some tap water that has been left to stand for an hour (to let the chlorine evaporate off)
• some water straight from the tap

Put them in uniform containers; mark them, but conceal their identity. Place all the samples in the fridge for an hour. Now taste each, one after the other, and see which one you prefer. You may be surprised.

It is commonly said that we should all drink at least 2 litres of water a day. This is not really true: it helps to drink plenty of water, but how much you drink will depend on the climate, your size, your metabolism and your diet (some 20 per cent of your water intake can come from food). The effects of dehydration (loss of concentration, tiredness, irritability) may begin to kick in when you lose just 1 to 2 per cent of your normal water content, so it is worth keeping drink to hand, and to drink slightly more than your thirst dictates  but not excessive quantities. And if that drink is mineral water  as opposed to fizzy drinks, coffee or alcohol, so much the better. It could be tap water, too  but if it takes the lure of bottled mineral water to get you there, then it has had an undisputed benefit.

From ancient times on, people have travelled like pilgrims to enjoy the perceived health benefits of certain springs, hot and cold, bathing in it or drinking it. Some were so delighted by the effects that they bottled the water to take it home with them. Only in the 19th century did this bottling become a more concerted commercial enterprise, with French and Italian companies in particular exporting their product across borders. The early success of bottled mineral water mirrored the scarcity of reliable clean water, especially in the burgeoning towns and cities, and bottled water went out of fashion when clean tap water was consistently piped into homes, from the late 19th century on. The soft-drinks industry then took off and bottled mineral water went into the doldrums, but it revived in the more health-conscious 1970s, on the back of a massive and highly successful publicity campaign by Perrier. Initially the bottlers concentrated on supplying the restaurant trade, but soon the supermarkets recognised a general public demand. This was largely met by imported mineral water, until British entrepreneurs saw the potential for exploiting local sources. Now there are 149 UK brands of mineral water, supplying a thirsty market that buys 2.1 billion litres of bottled water every year. Bottled water is a worldwide phenomenon: an estimated 154 billion litres of it are consumed annually, in a global market worth £100 billion. (Only a relatively small proportion of this bottled water is high-grade Natural Mineral Water, however.) There is not much that is romantic about this industry: it is highly industrialised, with multinationals competing for market share. Evian, Volvic and Badoit, for instance, are owned by the giant French food group Danone; Buxton, Vittel and Perrier are owned by Nestlé; Malvern Water is owned by Coca-Cola.

For all the supposed health benefits of Natural Mineral Water, there are some awkward ecological downsides to the business. In an era of increasing concern about global warming, it has been pointed out that much of the £1 (or more) price of a 1.5-litre plastic bottle of water comes from transport costs. Mineral water is being shipped huge distances to reach our tables; a quarter of the mineral water sold in the UK comes from abroad. In addition, the plastic bottles are made from crude-oil products such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate). They may be recyclable, but often end up in landfill sites, or are incinerated, producing toxic waste gases, or in some cases are shipped all the way to China, where recycling costs are cheaper. Questions have also been asked about the benefit of drinking water that may sit in its plastic bottle, at room temperature, for two years or more before it exceeds its 'best before date'. All this for a product that you might alternatively be able to get from a tap in your kitchen for a fraction of the price.

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