What You Didn't Know About Your Bottled Water

Remember the days when getting a drink of water meant going to the kitchen sink to fill up a glass? Yeah, we don't either. Nowadays the market for water is flooded (get it?) with choices to meet your H2O preferences. But with so many options, it's hard to know what exactly you're drinking. Spring water? Artesian water? Mineral water? Bottled water? PH-balanced water? And don't even get us started on artisanal tap water. But what's really in your water - and what tastes the best?

Related: Bottled Water 'May Be Glorified Tap Water'

"The single most common refrain I hear is, 'It's just water,'" says Michael Cervin, senior editor of Bottled Water Web, the leading source of bottled water information on the Internet since 1996, and the author of the upcoming book Our World of Water: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Earth's Most Precious Resource. "All water, however, is not created equal." So what's the difference between one bottle of water and another? Where the water comes from, and how it's treated - those are the factors that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says make the biggest difference in taste between tap and bottled water.

Related: The Best BPA-Free Water Bottles

Fiji
Does it list its treatment process: Yes

From the website: "FIJI Water's state-of-the-art bottling facility was designed to protect the purity of our water at every step of the production process, and as part of that strict commitment to quality, no human hands are allowed to touch it. In fact, the facility was built directly on top of the FIJI Water aquifer, where a completely sealed delivery system draws the water up from the protected chamber and places it directly into our iconic square bottles, which are made from the highest-grade terephthalate (PET) plastic resin. To put it simply, until you unscrew the cap, FIJI Water never meets the compromised air of the 21st century nor is it touched by another human being. No other natural waters can honestly make that claim."

Does it list its sources: Yes

From the website: "FIJI Water comes from a single place: the remote Yaqara Valley of Viti Levu (one of Fiji's two principal islands). Here, hundreds of feet below an ancient rainforest, is a vast, geologically unique, underground aquifer from which we draw our water." FIJI also claims to be the only artesian sourced-water of the top 10 bottled water brands in America.

Does it list its water quality analysis: Yes

Through the FAQ section of its website, FIJI gives a water quality analysis test, with more details on the filtration and bottling process (no word on the date of the report, though). Also, on the label is the typical analysis of certain minerals - silica, calcium, magnesium, pH, etc. - in milligrams per liter (on the 1 ½ liter bottle we bought).

How does it taste: Number five out of 10, with a score of 75

One tester said it was the "cleanest by far," but others said it tasted filmy ("but not in the worst way"), stale, and flat. One tester said it tasted like the water fountain.

Related: Celebrating World Water Day by Reducing Water Use in the United States

Glacéau Smartwater
Does it list its treatment process: Sort of

If you can get through the sing-songy descriptor on the label and website, you'll find that the water is vapor distilled, with added electrolytes. It basically says it mimics the process of rainwater. However, a bottled water report goes into more detail about how it's purified: with charcoal filtration, vapor distillation, ultraviolet light disinfection, re-mineralization (if that's a word), and ozonation.

Does it list its sources: Yes

From its bottled water report: "Most facilities that purify and bottle Smartwater procure water from municipal water systems. At a few plants, however, water is obtained from protected groundwater sources managed by the bottling plant, with approvals from local authorities."

Does it list its quality analysis: Yes

Again, from the same bottled water report, Smartwater breaks down all of the minerals and elements found in its water in a typical analytical report.

How does it taste: Number six out of 10, with a score of 74.08

Clean was the all-around description of it, but others said it felt heavy and others said it felt soft.

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Evian
Does it list its treatment process: Not really

From the website: "Each drop of Evian starts as rain and melting snow on the peaks of the Northern Alps. It filters through layers of glacial sand on a 15+ year journey deep in the heart of the mountains. Through this process, Evian is filtered naturally, without chemicals, giving it the purity, mineral content, and taste that nature intended."

Fine and dandy… we guess. But the website does break down the mineral content of its water on the same page, as well as on the label, so that's handy. The source page also has some YouTube videos that try to explain the "mineral vesta" of the Alps and its filtration process.

Does it list its sources: Sort of, but not really

We know it's from the Alps. There are multiple YouTube videos on its website that are supposed to explain how the water travels over 15 years through the Alps but… that's it.

Does it list its water quality analysis: Maybe

There are links from the main site to water quality reports for California and one for all other states, but the URLS are coming up empty.

How does it taste: Number 10 out of 10, with a score of 67.5

Yeah, it didn't fare that well with our testers. "Mineral-y," "soft,"... one called it "toilet water" but we think that's harsh. One tester immediately guessed it was Evian because of its softness, which is a defining descriptor of Evian from other tests we've seen. Perhaps because we're New Yorkers who like a hard tap water.

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-Marcy Franklin, The Daily Meal