When it comes to choosing a refreshing drink, there’s nothing quite like spring water. Just like any other type of water, spring water gives us the nutrition we need for a happy and healthy body. Additionally, it offers benefits that you won’t find in your city water or public water. Spring water offers oxygen to the body and the brain, aids in good digestion, helps to sustain a healthy weight, and also tastes amazing. Spring water never tastes flat or boiled and it makes for an excellent drinking experience besides offering benefits to the body. One of the main benefits of spring water is that it is free of almost all contaminants. Since the water is being collected directly from an underground source, it does not have any pesticides, herbicides and pharmaceuticals that are usually found in other water sources. In its natural form, spring water can also be a reliable source of minerals that are beneficial to our health as mineral water which is rich is usually slightly alkaline, which helps neutralize acidity in the body and keeps bones and teeth strong and healthy. But do we know what exactly spring water is? How was it formed? What its uses are?
Let’s find out now!
Definition of Spring Water
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defined spring water as “water that comes from an underground aquifer, which can be purified or left in its natural state”. Spring water is often accessible through a well and treated, or it may be collected directly from the opening of the spring. Spring water, sometimes referred to as “live” water, is fresh, organic, and unprocessed. In essence, it’s water in its purest form as it is free of all contaminants that come with tap water, such as copper or lead, bacteria or other toxins that are picked up from pipes it passes through. Spring water is natural, unprocessed water which comes from underground aquifers and springs. The water is then collected and typically bottled at the source. Spring water does not remove its naturally occurring minerals and often keeps them for flavour.
How is Spring water formed?
Spring water occurs when underground water sources become so filled that water bubbles rise up to the surface of the earth. As the water rises up to the surface, it is filtered through rocks. In most instances this rock is limestone, which is a softer stone that is easy for water to flow through. As the water flows up through the rock, it collects minerals before coming to the surface as crystal clear water. If a spring has any colour, it is often from the rich minerals which are found in the soil and around the spring. Spring water is a naturally occurring water purification system.
What is a spring?
A spring is a water body which is formed when the side of a hill, a valley bottom or other excavation intersects a flowing body of natural groundwater at or below the local water table. When an aquifer is filled to the point that the water overflows onto the land surface this results into a spring being formed. Springs can vary in size from irregular seeps which flow only after small rain to large pools with hundreds of millions of gallons flowing daily. Springs are not only limited to the earth’s surface. Recently, a scientific discovery was made in which hot springs at depths of up to 2.5 kms in the oceans, generally along mid-ocean rifts (spreading ridges). The hot water coming from these springs can be over 300 degrees Celsius and is also rich in minerals and sulphur resulting in a unique ecosystem.
Uses of a Spring
Springs have a variety of different uses for humans such as drinking water, domestic water supply, irrigation, mills, navigation, and generating electricity. Some modern day uses include recreational activities such as swimming, fishing, floating, hydrotherapy, water for livestock, fish hatcheries and supply for bottled mineral water. Springs have elements of mythological value that some people believe it to be an incredibly healthy source of drinking water.
But sometimes, this myth is used as a marketing gimmick by Bottled water companies to sell their product. To know how to use a spring appropriately, whether for a mineral bath or for drinking water purposes, it is important to conduct an intensive water quality test. Some springs that are managed as Spas already have such a test in place and make sure they pass the threshold required. Springs are usually used as a source of water for bottled water companies. When purchasing bottled water from one of these labelled companies, you can often find the water test for that spring on the website of that particular bottled water company. Only 55% of the bottled water that claims to be spring water actually is bona fide spring water. 45% is just treated tap water. This neither gives us the same benefits, nor will it have the refreshing, unique taste that real spring water has. That is why it’s important to check the authenticity of bottled spring water. The only way to find out whether that website gives you true or false information is by going directly to the source or spring and conducting a water quality test by yourself. A spring bottled and sold as spring water does not equate to it being contaminant free. Therefore, it is best to search out a water quality test or purchase one by yourself before making it a regular habit of drinking from any spring.
A new alternative….
Unfortunately, mineral water bottles are ineffectively measured by various water regulators, meaning that a lot of bottled water labelled as spring water is not actually from a natural source. Even if a manufacturer is using spring water, there’s a slight chance that it’s being processed using chemicals like chlorine, negating many of spring water’s benefits.
An effective alternative to purchasing spring bottled water is to buy a Spring Water purifier for your home. Nanofiltration is used by these water purifiers in order to provide the same purities and benefits a natural spring water can provide you. Some of the best water purifiers which provide spring like mineralised water for homes are now available in India.
