Do you find yourself overwhelmed by all of the bottled water options available? The FDA lays out strict criteria on bottled water labeling to help consumers know what they are getting, but many people don’t know what the labels mean! At Endless Waters, we want to set the record straight once and for all by clearly laying out the differences between spring water, mineral water, distilled water and purified bottled water.

What is Spring Water?

If your friend told you to stick your head in a pond and start drinking, you’d probably say, “No way!” Yet so many people shell out big bucks for bottled spring water, even though it’s essentially the same thing! Spring water is water that comes to the ground’s surface via an underground aquifer that is usually formed around rock beds and soil. Many bottled water companies that sell spring water sell it straight from the spring with minimal filtration. The problem with this is that the aquifers are constantly shifting and changing; as a result, the level of minerals present in spring water can vary greatly from brand to brand (and even batch to batch!) so you can never really be sure of what you’re drinking.

What is Mineral Water?

Mineral water is water that contains mineral concentrations of at least 250 PPM (parts per million). The most common minerals found in mineral water are calcium, potassium and iron. In order to get the label “mineral water”, the minerals must be naturally present in the water – water with artificially added minerals cannot be labeled mineral water.

What is Distilled Water?

Distilled water is water that goes through a process called distillation, one of the oldest and most effective methods of water purification in the world. Distilling water involves boiling it into a vapor, collecting the vapor in a clean container, cooling it and then condensing it back into liquid. This effectively removes all of the minerals from the water because the minerals, which have a much higher boiling point, do not boil away.

While distilled water is arguably the cleanest bottled water option available, it comes at a price: pure H2O tastes really, really bad! Many companies add minerals back into their distilled water to make it taste better, but even so, most people use distilled water to fill humidifiers more often they drink it.

What is Purified Water?

Purified water is water that has been cleansed either by filtration, activated carbon, ultraviolet sterilization or reverse osmosis (or a combination of each). The purification process results in water that is free from contaminants, perfectly safe to drink and naturally great tasting.

Don’t take a gamble with your bottled water – if you want to have safe, healthy and ultra purified water delivered to your door in Maryland, Virginia or Washington, DC, call Endless Waters!