Quality Analysis of Bottled Drinking Water In And Around Trichy City

Abstract

Sales of bottled drinking water have increased dramatically in the past two decades. The consumers were fully satisfied only with its easy portable nature and partially with its intake because of the existence of large variations in the concentration of parameters present in the different brands of bottled drinking water. To assess this quality of bottled water issues, in Trichy, samples of 8 brands of uncarbonated natural bottled water were evaluated within 3 months. A comparison between the water composition and the maximum contaminant levels imposed by the Indian standards and several other International guidelines for all parameters were discussed. They varied in composition among the brands and from lot to lot for a particular brand. The results of chloride were very low allowed for bottled waters by the Indian standards and several other International organizations and it leads to knee pain if people consume it regularly. Additional changes in the water chemistries may also occur during storage and transportation, especially when bottles are exposed to direct sunlight. The number and type of parameters reported on the labels of bottled water showed a lack of homogeneity. These results suggest the need for more stringent standardization of the bottled water market, with particular attention to quality control, labeling, and continuous monitoring. Additionally, the analysis and labelling of other parameters such as microbiological and arsenic for bottled drinking water brands is needed to protect public health.