Concentrations of inorganic elements in bottled waters on the Swedish market

Abstract

This study presents the concentrations of about 50 metals and ions in 33 different brands of bottled waters on the Swedish market. Ten of the brands showed calcium (Ca) concentrations </=10 mg L(-1) and magnesium (Mg) levels <3 mg L(-1), implying very soft waters. Three of these waters had in addition low concentrations of sodium (Na; <7 mg L(-1)), potassium (K; <3 mg L(-1)) and bicarbonate (HCO(3) </=31 mg L(-1)). These brands were collected from barren districts. Nine of the brands were collected from limestone regions. They showed increased Ca-levels exceeding 50 mg L(-1) with a maximum of 289 mg L(-1). Corresponding Mg-levels were also raised in two brands exceeding 90 mg L(-1). Two soft and carbonated waters were supplemented with Na(2)CO(3) and NaCl, resulting in high concentrations of Na (644 and 648 mg L(-1)) and chloride (Cl; 204 and 219 mg L(-1)). Such waters may make a substantial contribution to the daily intake of NaCl in high water consumers. The storage of carbonated drinking water in aluminum (Al) cans increased the Al-concentration to about 70 microg L(-1). Conclusion As there was a large variation in the material as regards concentrations of macro-elements such as Ca, Mg, Na, K and Cl. Supplementation with salts, e.g., Na(2)CO(3), K(2) CO(3) and NaCl, can lead to increased concentrations of Na, K and Cl, as well as decreased ratios of Ca/Na and larger ratios of Na/K. Water with high concentrations of e.g., Ca and Mg, may make a substantial contribution to the daily intake of these elements in high water consumers. Al cans are less suited for storage of carbonated waters, as the lowered pH-values may dissolve Al. The levels of potentially toxic metals in the studied brands were generally low.

Trace elements and ions in Italian bottled mineral waters: Identification of anomalous values and human health related effects

“…Differences in concentration for single elements, expressed as the ratio max/min concentration (column 'spread' in Table 4), range from one to five orders of magnitude. These findings are similar to those of other studies (Misund et al, 1999;Rosborg et al, 2005;Krachler and Shotyk, 2009). Bi, Hf, Ta, Te and Th show the lowest variation, while Ag, Cs and U show the largest.…”

Comparative study between bottled mineral and tap water in Italy

“…Previous investigations of bottled mineral water composition at various spatial levels (local, national, continental, worldwide), using different analytical methods, are from Birke et al (2010a), Güler and Alpaslan (2009), Krachler and Shotyk (2009), Lau and Luk (2002), Misund et al (1999), Naddeo et al (2008), Reimann and Birke (2010), Rosborg et al (2005) and Smedley (2010) and also included the work of Bertoldi et al (2011), whereas studies devoted to tap water are more limited (Avino et al, 2010;Flaten, 1991;Reimann et al, 2003). The latter are focused on the effects of the distribution system on drinking water quality Völker et al, 2010) or compare the two types of water (Cidu et al, 2011;Reimann and Birke, 2010).…”

Radiological Characterization of Natural Spring Waters in Eastern Black Sea Region, Turkey

“…Some experimental values for other countries, World Health Organization (WHO, 2008) and Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MEF, 2004) limits are given in Table 3 for comparison. The mean concentrations are generally higher than the limits of Greece (Karamanis et al, 2007), Sweden (Rosborg et al, 2005), Canada (Dabeka et al, 2002) and Europe (Misund et al, 1999) but are lower than those of WHO (2008) and MEF (2004) limits. The results of gross α, gross β, 226 Ra, 232 Th, 137 Cs and 40 K activity measurements for the natural water samples are listed in Table 4.…”