Variation of 66 elements in European bottled mineral waters

Fifty-six bottled mineral waters bought at random all over Europe were anal ysed for 66 chemical elements by ICP-AES, ICP-MS and IC-techniques. Results show that there is a wide spread in the chemical composition of mineral wa ters. The EEC drinking water safeguard values for chemical constituents do not apply to mineral water, although mineral water is increasingly used for general drinking water purposes. Only 15 of the randomly selected 56 miner al waters would fulfil the drinking water regulations for all parameters wh ere action levels are defined. Differences in chemical composition observed between countries or regions are due to geological environment and to diff erent taste or local regulations of what is mineral water. There are indica tions that element concentrations for some unwanted constituents (e.g. Pb) are higher in waters sold in glass bottles than in those in plastic bottles . Some elements show a clear regional dependency. Studying the large natura l variation in concentration for many of the 66 studied elements it becomes clear that we know little about the natural variation of element concentra tion in water and the health effects of most elements in drinking water. (C ) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.