In America, the significance of clean, pure water is only increasing. We’re all searching for the finest solution for our health and that of our families – and manufacturers are well aware of it. It’s easy to get lost in the world of bottled water and water treatment solutions. The words “pure” and “spring” are often used together to create lovely mental pictures of fertile, crystal-clear waterfalls, azure skies, and delectable, hydrating water.
But what exactly do these phrases imply? And, in the purified water vs spring water debate, which one is better for us? I’ve debunked the marketing myths and revealed everything you need to know in this article.
Contents
What is Spring Water?
Springwater is a type of bottled water that you have undoubtedly seen in stores. Unless you are a complete bottled water opponent, you have most likely consumed spring water hundreds of times throughout your life.
A spring may be the source of your water, but it is not always what you think. The term “tasting like water” implies that it has gone through various processes to reach the bottle, which isn’t necessarily the case. It’s not simply as simple as someone placing an empty water bottle beneath a spring waterfall and filling it up.
Springwater does not necessarily have to come from a spring. Manufacturers may label their goods “spring water” if they originate from an underground aquifer, whether well water, artesian water, or groundwater, so not exactly the picturesque scene you may have imagined.
How Spring Water is Made
Springwater comes from natural sources that are unlikely to include artificial contaminants and pollutants. This water flows down paths worn into the mountains, along the sides of hills and valleys, and sometimes underground, where it comes into contact with rocks that provide some level of filtration. The minerals in the water’s mineral balance are also influenced by the rocks it encounters.
Springwater is frequently not safe to consume straight out of the tap – the manual filtering process, which is an unavoidable step in the manufacture of spring water, is one example. Water is treated at an artificial and man-powered treatment centre, with mineral content maintained while impurities and potentially harmful microorganisms are removed.
Advantages of Spring Water
Derived from a “pure” source
Springwater has several advantages over purified water. One of the most significant is that a product produced from springs is derived from a “purified” source, which is unlikely to have been tainted by human activity and has naturally higher mineral content.
Great-tasting
Spring types of water are rich in natural minerals and partly filtered by the natural filtration process. Many people prefer this sort of water to ordinary tap water because of its minerals, especially when compared to the latter’s lack of minerals. Furthermore, these minerals must be ingested for bones, cardiac health, and other factors to thrive.
Disadvantages
Can be expensive
Because spring water producers are certain that their product is far superior to ordinary tap water, it is frequently costly in supermarkets. If you only consume bottled spring products, you may spend hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars each year on bottled water.
Not available for at-home tap water
There’s no avoiding the fact that you’ll need to buy spring water in bottled form from a store. It’s extremely unlikely that your city drinking supply includes the natural minerals found in spring water; therefore, if flavour is important to you, you’ll probably drink from bottled spring water more than tap water.
What is Purified Water?
Purified water is the most popular type of bottled water available, and as such, it’s probably hard to picture it as anything but an enhanced product.
However, purified is just a filtration process that removes impurities from the tap or other types of drinking water. Once this filtration takes place, minerals are added back to the product to maintain its enhanced qualities – these can be minerals naturally found in the supply source or minerals not naturally found there.
Because it has been water purification to specific criteria and contains far fewer pollutants than what we’re used to drinking, you can expect that pure water is fresher, cleaner, and tastier, as well as having a high purity.
How Water is Purified
Purified water, often known as “filtered water,” is simply what it sounds like: pure water that has been filtered. It may also be called “purified water.” Because of its intense filtration, it’s frequently referred to as “purified” – hence the name. To obtain a legally recognized title, purified water will usually be filtered with several complex filtration processes to remove almost all particles and contaminants that would prevent it from achieving a “pure” label.
Bottled purified water is readily available, but it’s worth noting that the term “purified” refers to the water’s purification instead of its origin.
Pure water has a high degree of purity and is subjected to precise criteria. However, it might have been drawn from a spring, be sourced from a reservoir or a river in your area, or even come from your tap. So if you’re buying purified filtered water because the contaminants have been eliminated, you may just as well purify it yourself.
Advantages of Purified Water
Legally safe to drink
There is no way that the “purified” status of a bottle of purified water can be revoked. When you drink it, you know for certain that it had to fulfil a legal requirement to acquire the “purified” designation, so you can be completely sure what you’re ingesting is genuinely safe.
May purify water yourself.
Any water supply, including your own home’s drinking water, maybe cleaned. Reverse osmosis or distilled water is less expensive to produce and allows you to reduce your plastic water bottle usage. Reverse osmosis or distilled water is also as good in flavour as purified water from a bottle.
Disadvantages
Lower mineral content
Some purification techniques, however, include the addition of minerals. On the other hand, purified water has had its beneficial minerals removed. As a result, you may not appreciate the flavour of purified water as much as spring water, which usually has greater mineral content.
Expensive & wasteful
In terms of purity, there isn’t much of a difference between purified water and spring water. If you buy distillate from a store, you’ll pay a lot of money and help to the dangerously large plastic waste accumulation in the US.
If you want to drink clean, safe water without buying single-use bottles, I highly recommend investing in a system that allows you to have your purified types of drinking water at home.
Spring Water vs Purified: Which is Better?
If you’re at a campground or other “natural” environment, you might not even realize that the water coming out of your tap is uncontaminated. Cities like Philadelphia are still working to ensure public drinking water safety, and they’ve done their best to make sure all residents have safe access to drinking water. Unfortunately, even though tap water may be safe to drink in these areas, it won’t necessarily taste good!
Bottled spring water offers an alternative that tastes better than tap water and contains minerals that may benefit health. However, if you didn’t realize it before, bottled spring water isn’t safer; rather, mineral content makes it safer than purified filtered waters. This makes distilled or reverse-osmosis filtered water much cheaper than spring or mineral water.
All in all, it’s important to remember that the word “purified” in purified filtered water doesn’t mean that the source wasn’t safe, to begin with. It just means that every drop you drink has been tested for safety and thoroughly processed to remove things like bacteria and minerals, which may make it taste unpleasant. When you consider this along with its lack of flavour compared to natural sources like spring, purified filtered is only best-suited for making coffee or tea – but not drinking!
Should I purify my water?
If you want to save money while reducing your single-use plastic water bottle usage, consider buying filter systems that purify your drinking water at home. Distillation and reverse osmosis are the finest, purest methods for obtaining water. RO or distilled water is typically free of more than 99.9% of all TDS, including minerals and chemicals like chlorine, so it’ll taste comparable if not better than bottled water.
Choosing between water filter methods might be difficult, especially as the best purification systems are among the most expensive items on the market. However, distillation is frequently less expensive than some more costly, such as reverse osmosis. I have numerous helpful resources available, including a guide to the finest technologies for removing pollutants and chemicals from tap water if you’re searching for a starting point.
What’s the difference between filtered water, spring water, vs purified water?
Both spring water and purified types of water I’ve discussed already – but what about filtered?
Filtered water isn’t filtered through a purification process; it’s filtered. This implies that while purified water contains fewer than 10 parts per million (PPM) of contaminants, a filtered product may have a higher level of pollutants and chemicals – albeit still considerably less than a tap water source. Springwater and purified sources are generally somewhat more expensive than filtered products.
Filtered water is not only sold in bottles, as there are now several purification techniques and several at-home filtering gadgets to select from.