For 97% of the population, tap water is drinkable. So you can drink it without any problem. On the other hand, for questions of taste or therapeutic imperatives, one can be tempted by bottled water. We take stock with the journalist of the magazine What to chooseElisabeth Chesnais.
“The difference between spring water and mineral water is mostly a regulatory issue”, explains Elisabeth Chesnais. Originally, mineral waters were medicinal waters, sold exclusively for specific pathologies.
The power of mass distribution has led to their sale in supermarkets, but we too often forget that they are basically therapeutic waters.
In fact, they do not meet potability standards. Some mineral waters are simply not drinkable under the regulations. “You can find mineral waters that beat sodium records”says journalist Elisabeth Chesnais.
Currently, for tap water, the authorized sodium limit is 200 milligrams per litre, while some mineral waters are over 1,000 milligrams per litre. “It’s a huge difference”, continues Elisabeth Chesnais, who explains that some mineral waters also have large excesses of sulphate or fluorine, while others are absolutely not mineralized. In some countries, they could not benefit from the name “mineral water”.
For spring water, things are a little different because they all meet the same drinking water standards as tap water. Sometimes they are even drawn from the same groundwater as drinking water.
Bottled water and tap water generally all come from groundwater. What makes mineral waters special is that their composition must always be the same. Spring water, on the other hand, can have a composition that changes from the moment it remains within the standards of drinkability in the same way as tap water.
Following various tests conducted by the journal What to choose, it turns out that filter jugs are breeding grounds for germs and bacteria. It is necessary to change the filters very often and to check that no element of the active process reaches the water of the carafe to preserve its values of potability.