Spring Water and Purified Water: what’s the difference

Spring Water and Purified Water: what’s the difference – It’s easy to get confused and indecise when it comes to deciding on which variation of a product to buy, especially when there are different terminologies involved – they all seem to mean the same, but they don’t, but they kind of do. Water is one of those products. From spring water, to purified water, some say one is better than the other. But what’s the difference?

Spring Water

Spring water sometimes goes under different names, namely artesian water, ground water or well water. By definition, it’s simply the water that comes from an underground aquifer. Natural springs usually form at the bottom of hills and in valleys, in areas that have rocks, particularly limestone, as its soft texture allows water to easily well through. As the aquifer fills up, the excess water seeps through to the surface and its collected. The water is generally clear thanks to the filtration through the rocks, but the mineral composition of the soil can often affect its colours. It’s safe to drink spring water as it is, however the quality can sometimes be compromised and the water source is often unknown.

In order to meet international standards, bottled spring water is required to be tested and filtered for any sediment. Nevertheless, studies done by expert agencies have found the purification to fail for certain brands, with traces of coliform, arsenic and phthalates found inside water bottles sold to the public.

Purified Water

The distinguishing characteristic of purified water is its lack or extremely low levels of impurities. Water that meets the standard of a maximum of 10 parts-per-million of dissolved contaminants is essentially of higher purity than spring, tap or filtered water.

The water can come from any source and it goes through different a purification process that includes techniques such as distillation, deionization, verse osmosis and carbon filtration.

Having no harmful substances in your drink is desirable, however one disadvantage of this type of water is that it’s usually stripped of its beneficial minerals.

Distilled Water

Distilled water is, by definition, purified water. It, too, goes through a purification process to eliminate all inorganic minerals and pathogens, only distilled water is simply boiled, without any further processing. That’s the differences between the two types — the levels of purification that the water goes through.

The collected water is boiled and the steam is captured, cooled and collected as distilled water. However, certain contaminants have very high melting points and boiling points, meaning that that simple process isn’t enough for their elimination. As a result, some of these inorganic minerals and metals can easily end up inside your water bottle. Furthermore, distillation takes up a lot of energy as great amounts of heat are necessary to evaporate all that water. It’s a waste of energy.

Drinking Water

As the name suggests, drinking water is just that: water that is intended for safe human consumption. It comes from a municipal source, it has no added ingredients except from fluoride, and it comes out straight from your tap.

Spring Water, Purified Water, Distilled Water and Drinking Water: Price Comparison

When it comes to water prices, it can be a frustrating thought at times, as you can find yourself paying a few of dollars for something that comes straight out of your kitchen tap and it’s usually packed in plastic, a.k.a. more pollution.

In 2016, sales revenues for the U.S. bottled water market hit the $16 billion mark annually, a 7.45 increase over the previous year. Quite the profitable market.

So what can you generally expect to pay for the different types of water? The following prices were taken from Amazon.com as a general overview of the prices.

Spring Water:

• Brand: Evian
• Price: $41.95 (24pk, 16.9oz bottles)
• Price per bottle: $1.75

Purified Water:

• Brand: Dasani
• Price: $20.15 (24pk, 16.9oz bottles)
• Price per bottle: $0.84

Distilled Water:

• Brand: Glaceau Smartwater
• Price: $45.36 (24pk, 20oz bottles)
• Price per bottle: $1.89

Drinking Water:

• Brand: Evian
• Price: $41.95 (24pk, 16.9oz bottles)
• Price per bottle: $1.75

So there you have it. The differences, the technicalities, the prices. What’s a better purchase is up to you to decide. After all, the differences aren’t significant enough to cause you impermeable harm. Regulations are always put in place and even if some cases are better than others, it’s still not the end of the world. Maybe the main objective should be to contribute less to environmental pollution and abstain from as much plastic as possible!

Published by Carla Cometto on 22 Agosto 2017