Everything has become money and there is no escape for ‘Water’. Water which was once available in abundant is facing its extinction. Yes pure water is very hard to find, apart from the glaciers in Arctic and Antarctic. Ground water and even rain water is now adulterated; thanks to pollution. Okay, lets come to the point. Do you really think that you are buying Mineral water or just Packaged water for drinking purposes. Many people don’t know about these differences. So in this article I’m going to tell you the real difference between the packaged and mineral water.
Packaged Drinking Water
Water packed in bottles, made of plastic or glass, can be called as bottled water. The idea of packing water has its root dating to 1670’s, in Holy well, where the water was packed and was sent to churches and other places to cure common ailments.
This concept was carried over by the so-called beverage companies who sell water for humongous price. Yet this bottled water is finding its way easily in the market. The reason is simple, the need for clean and fresh water and water wherever you go.
Water which you get from taps by the government is not always pure and safe for drinking, so people moved to this bottled drinking water hoping to get what they want but here too they are cheated. Not all bottled water is good.
Bottled water is simply drinking water derived from normal water with several filtering process sometimes directly from natural source as well.
Bottled water is of many kinds:
- Purified
- Sparkling
- Fluoridated
- Mineral
- Groundwater
- Artesian water and so on.
Bottles for packing this water is mostly made from Polyethylene teraphthalate (PET), a kind of plastic which is harmful to environment as it cannot be reused more than once or twice. Though there are some cans and bottles, which can hold water without affecting the quality, the number is very less.
Some Packaged drinking water companies:
- Bisleri
- Kinley
- Aquafina
- Bailley
- McDowell’s No.1
- Kingfisher
Mineral Drinking Water
The name says everything. Water with salts and other minerals which are naturally available is known as Mineral water. This mineral water is also packed and distributed all over the world.
But what we get is not mineral water, instead it is known as Mineralized water. Adding minerals artificially to the natural normal water is what we get nowadays.
Mineral water is something that comes naturally with all the essential nutrients; we get that, from springs and wells etc. This water if packed after several filtering process is known as Mineral water. But this kind of water is very rare to get.
Some Mineralized drinking water companies:
- Evian
- Himalayan
- Qua
- Catch
Packaged and Mineral water, what’s the difference?
Any kind of water, groundwater, polluted water, can be bottled and can be sold. But mineral water is something which is pure and healthy to drink.
Packaged water may or may not be carbonated where as mineral water is not carbonated. Mineral water is in a way a kind of Packaged water, as it is packed and sold, but Packaged water is not Mineral water, unless it contains some kind of minerals. Whether it is mineral water or not, nowadays all Packaged water are sold in the name of mineral water.
BIS Difference
As per BIS standards, there is certain code for both packaged and mineral drinking waters in India. You can easily identify the kind of water you are buying by just referring to this BIS code which is printed in the bottle.
BIS Code:
- Packaged Mineral Water : IS 13428
- Packaged Drinking Water : IS 14543
It’s tough for you to remember the full code. So I suggest you to remember the first two digit numbers 13 for Mineral water and 14 for normal drinking water.
Hope you can find the difference !!!
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