Assessment of mineral content of various bottled water marketed in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Fifty-two brands of domestic bottled water were collected during the first quarter of the year 2011 from the supermarkets and food stores in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. The collected water was evaluated for their mineral content and the results were compared with the mineral content label on each bottle and/or with drinking water standards of either Saudi Arabia or the WHO. Evaluation included pH, TDS, soluble Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, NO3-, Cl-, SO4 2- as well as the concentrations of As, B, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr, Ti, V, Zn and BrO-3. The obtained results indicated that except NO3-,F and BrO-3 the concentrations of TDS, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, NO3-, Cl-, SO42- and trace elements of most collected water agree well with the permissible limits set either by WHO or Saudi Arabian standards but with some variation for some major values. The result indicated the determined values of pH values are in agreement with the reported label values. On the other hand results of BrO-3 indicate that more than 18% of the total collected bottled water exceeded the allowable limits of Bromate (10 μg/L) according to Saudi Arabia Standards and WHO. Furthermore, comparison of the analytical results with the mineral content labeled in each bottle revealed a substantial variation in the parameter values, and that the reported label values of most parameters do not reflect the real content of the bottles. © 2011 WIT Press.