ANALYZING & COMPARING 20 BRANDS OF BOTTLED WATER TESTED FOR pH (+61 421 596 390)

ANALYZING & COMPARING BRANDS OF BOTTLED WATER

WHY ARE MOST OF THE BOTTLED WATER BRANDS SO ACIDIC?

The bottling companies, with the exception of just a very few, use extreme filtration and ozonation to treat the water before bottling it. Neither of these processes make the water healthier, and they are NOT better than what your water company does at all. Plus the extreme measures of filtration tend to make the water acidic. The concensus between the two main water quality regulating groups [EPA and EWG] is that bottled water is inferior in quality to tap water. 

1. Extreme Filtration: The majority of the bottled water companies use extreme filtration [ion-exchange, demineralization "dissolving the enamel", reverse osmosis, distillation, deionization or any combination of these]. Regardless of the source, wells, springs, rivers, lakes, and municipal water supplies, when you use extreme filtration it is proven over and over that you create dead-water. Dead water is void of all healthy minerals, similar to acid rain. It's called dead water because of the death of tissues, cells and life caused by this type of water. It takes a while for acidic rain-water to soak into the ground, trickle through layers of calcium and other rock and in the process calcium, magnesium, potassium and other healthy minerals absorb into it. Then with one foul swoop these bottling companies "treat" the water by removing everything from it, including all of the healthy minerals.
2. The disinfection of bottled water usually includes ozonation. The process of ozonation is basically infusing the water with oxygen [which is another way of saying oxidizing it]. Oxidizing is the opposite to anti-oxidants. It's used to kill germs, but creates complications by adding too many free-radicals - more than what is healthy for the body. 
3. Safety of bottled water vs tap water: The result is that most brands of bottled water are void of healthy minerals, have no electrolytes, and are acidic. An extra problem is that water wants minerals in it and it will dissolve more minerals as soon as it can, such as acidic minerals from the air and alkaline minerals from your bones, joints and muscles. When you consume a lot of this type of purified water it will rob your body of its healthy, essential minerals as you drink. Not good.
4. According to a 2015 study, done by the American Dental Hygienists' Association, the majority of waters tested had a more acidic pH when tested in the lab than the value listed in their water quality reports. Note: This particular study was for the purposes of educating patients on the dangers of dental erosion and tooth decay from over consumption of acidic foods and beverages.

 TESTING OF 20 DIFFERENT BOTTLED WATER BRANDS

All of my testing of brands of bottled water shows them to be inferior to filtered tap water. This video shows you one of the many demonstrations/tests I've done on various brands of bottled water. In particular this video focuses on the pH of the water being tested.

pH OF BOTTLED WATER BRANDS

The following brands of bottled water are shown here in this comparison chart with their pH-levels and water source/treatment notes in order from worst to best: Vitaminwater 3.4, Propel Zero 3.5, Propel Fitness Water3.36, Penta 4.0, Dasani 4.5, Function 5.0, Perrier 5.5, Poland Spring 5.8, Voss 6.0, Ice Mountain 6.0, Crystal Geyser 6.0, Deer Park 6.3, Smart Water 6.5, Great Value Walmart 6.5, Gerber Pure Water 6.5, Arrowhead 6.83, Evian 7.0, Eternal 7.0, Volvic 7.0, Zephyrhills 7.5, Absopure 7.5, Fiji 7.5, Super Chill 7.5, Evamor 8.0, Real Water 8.0, Essentia 9.0. The pH-levels of several locations where I've tested the tap water is also shown for comparison sake.

DO BOTTLING COMPANIES FILTER THE WATER BETTER THAN YOUR MUNICIPAL WATER COMPANY?

In a word, NO. Municipal water companies do a pretty good job of filtering the water, and their quality of filtration is highly regulated. They do add chemicals, such as chlorine, to treat your water, but these can be filtered out easily and quickly just before you drink it. The water lines going from the water company all the way to your tap are also regulated, by municipal codes, all for the purpose of bringing you clean and healthy water.

WORRIED ABOUT CHEMICALS AND TOXINS? 

There are usually no chemicals or toxic elements in your water that can't be removed with proper water filtration. Keep in mind your municipality already filters your water. Most chemicals of concern in your tap water are put there by municipal water companies in order to rid the water of germs, fungus and algae. Water that is stored without any disinfecting chemicals [i.e., no chlorine] will soon start growing algae, fungus, etc. Chemicals used to treat your tap water, such as chlorine, are fairly easy and inexpensive to remove. The best way to handle water treatment chemicals is for you to keep the water disinfected, then freshly filter it when it's time to drink it. 

There are three main types of products which filter water easily and effectively: portable water filters/pitchers, water filters attached to your water supply directly, and water ionizers. The advantages of any of these methods over bottled water are numerous: decreased cost & land-fill wastes; increased freshness, convenience & control of what you filter; and overall healthier water.  

DO POPULAR BRANDS OF BOTTLED WATER TASTE BETTER? ADVERTISING DOLLARS OF BOTTLED WATER COMPANIES WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE THIS.

Bottled water brands are actually proven to be inferior to tap water in taste-tests! The common perception, caused by the brainwashing of advertising, is that bottled water tastes better than tap water. There have been many blind taste-tests of bottled water vs tap water to prove that in fact tap water tastes just as "good" when presented as an expensive brand of bottled water.

In a famous CBS expose people in a fancy restaurant were presented with an expensive "Water Menu" they immediately believed that the taste of the water was better. In each case the customers reacted to the PR and hype of the fancy label, price, menu and waiter's attitude rather than their own senses in deciding how well they liked each water they tasted.

BOTTLED WATER: POPULAR BUT NOT HEALTHY

A walk down the water aisle in the grocery store will tell you how popular bottled water has become. However, pretty much all brands of bottled water are not the healthiest water. They've been sitting around in plastic bottles for who knows how long, and while they're certainly better than soda, they are still not good for you.

Many of the bottled water brands are simply tap water from some municipality put in bottles without specifically removing the pharmaceuticals, pesticides, fluoride, VOCs and water treatment chemicals. Many other brands of water use extreme measures of filtration, such as reverse osmosis, ion-exchange, and distillation which are cheap ways to remove everything from the water. But removing everything from the water makes it extremely unhealthy for you!

This is a video which is a great piece done by ABC's 20/20 reporters on the subject of bottled water vs tap. The healthier and tastier alternative is to set up a water filter system in both your home and office.

Granted, tap water may need some basic filtration in order to be as healthy as it can be, but simple and inexpensive water filter systems can give you fresher, cleaner and healthier water than bottled water.

REVERSE OSMOSIS AND DISTILLED WATER

Reverse osmosis and distilled water are void of minerals. Water is known as the universal solvent. As it travels through rivers, rock, etc. on its way to your tap it picks up minerals. Most of the regions in the US have some pretty healthy minerals [like calcium, magnesium, and potassium] that are picked up by the water as it travels to your tap. Unhealthy elements are picked up too, such as lead, copper, and arsenic, but these are pretty easily removed from your water with the right filtration. By the time your water has reached your tap, you are right to think that many of the elements in it might be unhealthy. So what do you do? Reverse osmosis or distillation is not always the wrong thing to do, but you should know that when you remove all of the minerals from the water you will need to put healthy minerals back into the water to make it stabilized. What happens with reverse osmosis water or distilled water (which has not been remineralized) in the body is that it will travel through and pick up minerals right out of your joints and bones! Water has the property of wanting to do this. It does not want to stay void of all minerals. It is usually better, cheaper and easier to avoid reverse osmosis or distilled water filtration, but sometimes it is necessary. If you have a whole house water softener, for instance, then that water is full of sodium and reverse osmosis can remove sodium from water (but it's only one of the methods that can do this).

WHAT IS THE HEALTHIEST WATER TO DRINK?

I have tested alkaline antioxidant water against various brands of water: bottled water brands, soda, distilled, reverse osmosis and tap waters. Over the past 20 years of using alkaline ionized water for myself and family, I have found that the healthiest water to drink is alkaline antioxidant water, and I encourage you to move away from drinking bottled and give alkaline ionized water a try.

WHY IS ALKALINE WATER GOOD?

To keep our blood the right pH, 7.365, we should drink water at a pH of about 9 to 10. Drinking alkaline water helps the body detoxify. Toxins are acids, and to maintain pH balance while you are detoxifying, one needs an abundance of alkaline buffers.

Alkaline Water is Important to Cleanse the Cells of Toxins. In order to rid the body of acidic wastes, it is important that you have sufficient buffers, and that's a big reason why alkaline water is good. Our blood requires and actually enforces pH balance and when water is too acidic, your body is unable to flush out the acidic wastes from your cells and tissues. Organs deteriorate and disease sets in over time when you don't flush out the acidic wastes.

Scroll up to see our big chart comparing the pH-levels of alkaline antioxidant water with tap and bottled water, together with reverse osmosis water, soda, gatorade and distilled water.

ALKALINE ANTIOXIDANT WATER IS THE HEALTHIEST WATER TO DRINK

Not only is alkaline water good, but also the fact that ionized water is antioxidant water is fantastic! The healthiest water to drink for a variety of reasons is alkaline antioxidant water. It will provide you with pH buffers to help keep your body pH-balanced (slightly alkaline). It's also packed with natural antioxidants [negatively-charged electrons], which are free to naturally fight free radicals. Free radical damage in the body is like rust, and cell walls can get so degraded that they even mutate if you don't do something about free radicals. Drinking alkaline antioxidant water all day long will help you prevent and even reverse free radical damage. When you've finished reading this page, take the time to learn more about the important subject of alkaline ionized water and why it's the healthiest water to drink... Benefits of Drinking Alkaline Ionized Water

WHAT IS WATER IONIZATION?

Most water is oxidizing by the time it reaches your tap (or bottle), and oxidized water contains positively-charged free radical molecules (active oxygen, or O₂⁺⁾. Alkaline ionized water contains a good amount of alkaline minerals, and is negatively-charged (antioxidant water). The minerals, like calcium and magnesium, which are the most abundant minerals in alkaline water, are coincidentally the healthiest to consume. By ionizing this water it gives these healthy minerals a negative charge, which helps the body recognize them as more absorbable than if the water came with its usual mix of minerals and positive charge. Our bodies are naturally electrical and that means having a negative charge. Negatively charged anitoxidant water is the healthiest water to drink.The fact of being able to sip on ionized water (water which has an abundance of antioxidants) is a great health benefit! This is far more helpful than taking an antioxidant pill, for instance, because a pill is unreliable in how or where any antioxidants will arrive. My experience with this is that I literally saw my spider veins disappear when I started drinking high-antioxidant water.

FILTERED AND IONIZED TAP WATER VS. BOTTLED WATER BRANDS

There are hundreds of brands of bottled water. The advertising on the various bottled water brands and general perception is that bottled water is the healthiest water to drink. This site will hopefully allow you to look at bottled water in a new light. Bottled water brands are part of a multi-billion dollar industry, which got that way by convincing consumers that their bottled water was cleaner and healthier than tap water. However my comparisons of bottled water vs tap water have shown that you can filter your own tap water for a fraction of the cost and much more conveniently, and you can make it absolutely cleaner, safer and healthier than bottled water. Peer-reviewed research validates this fact:  4-year study done by the Natural Resources Defense Council. 

PH is another whole issue, but is definitely related to the healthiness of your water. Bottled water brands are often acidic, and research tells us that alkaline water is the healthiest water to drink. There are very few brands of bottled water that have an alkaline pH, or even neutral, and the great majority of brands of bottled water that I've tested for pH are acidic [from 4-6 pH]: Aquafina, Arrowhead, Crystal Geyser, Dassani, Deer Park, Walmart Distilled Water, Gerber Pure Water, Walmart Great Value Water, Ice Mountain, Lassens, Penta, Perrier Water, Poland Spring Water, Propel Fitness Water, Nestle Pure Life, Smart Water, Vitaminwater, and Voss Water. Why are most bottled water brands so acidic? It's because of the extreme filtration techniques of the bottling companies. More about that below.

Let's compare two top brands of bottled water with tap water filtered by a simple, yet powerful, pH-pitcher, the Ultrawater Pitcher. The pitcher is able to filter any tap-water better than the best of the bottled-water brands, at a cost of 80% less. Why can the pitcher filter so well? It has to do with the utilization of space-age water filter technology. With UltraWater filtration you can remove absolutely everything harmful from your water, including pharmaceuticals, fluoride and radio-active elements, while leaving the healthy minerals in the water. 

The above chart compares popular bottled water brands, Fiji and Essentia with tap water filtered by the UltraWater PH Pitcher.

The bottled water companies aren't using space-age technology, they're using reverse osmosis, distillation and other older and cheaper technologies to filter their bottled water. Cheaper technology and greater price of bottled water means the bottling companies are lining their pockets with your dough.

An additional benefit of the pH pitcher is its ability to ionize the water in addition to filtering it. Ionization increases the pH of the water in a way that also increases the antioxidants in the water.

Another type of water ionizer, with even higher amounts of antioxidants, is an electric water ionizer. Owning an electric water ionizer is a filtering investment that pays off big. With excellent filtration, and built to last a lifetime, the average water ionizer has a "cost per liter of under 15-cents. You can click on any of the water ionizers we sell and see a chart that compares the cost of using that water ionizer.

BRANDS OF BOTTLED WATER VS. WELLBLUE ALKALINE IONIZING PITCHER

The WellBlue Ionizing Pitcher is a portable water ionizer machine. It doesn't need electricity and is easy and convenient to use. In this video I am testing it against various brands of bottled water to make a point that for a lot less money and virtually no work, you can get fresh, filtered, alkaline ionized water which is a lot safer and healthier than even the most expensive bottled waters.

The technology of ionizing water in a portable way, with no electricity, was discovered a little over 15 years ago by Dr. Hayashi. This method is based on a discovery that adding magnesium to water in the presence of magnetized ceramics will excite the water to ionize spontaneously without the use of electricity. This form of water ionization is a lighter ionization than what you would get with an electric water ionizer.

This video shows the alkalinity of Smart Water, Voss Water, along with the WellBlue pitcher. The WellBlue Alkaline Ionizing Pitcher can filter and remineralize that water, improve the pH-level to a perfect 9.5 pH and also transform it (ionize it) so it has antioxidants in abundance in the water! All of the tested waters, even the Essentia, were shown to be oxidizing [positively charged] when tested. The WellBlue portable water ionizer pitcher made the water negatively charged, which means it has an abundance of free radical scavenging - negatively charged - electrons, called antioxidants to help cells stay healthy and free from the damage of oxidation.

FLUORIDE TESTING OF 21 BRANDS OF BOTTLED WATER VS IONIZED WATER

The fluoride testing I did is represented in both this video below and the chart above. I found that while all of the brands of bottled water tested contained far less fluoride than what is in my St. Louis tap water, a water ionizer was able to remove all of it. A special Arsenic, Lead, Fluoride filter was able to remove a great deal of it as well but did not do as well as a water ionizer in removing fluoride. While reverse osmosis removes fluoride, it also removes all of the other, healthy minerals and electrolytes that your body needs in the water it consumes. Drinking water void of electrolytes is a very unhealthy choice, so these brands, even though they do remove fluoride, are not at all suggested.

Why is fluoride bad? Fluoride is a poison and even if one consumes as little as 1 mg. of fluoride the toothpaste warning states you should seek immediate medical care. It's linked to learning disabilities and Alzheimer's disease, and because of this I take fluoride filtration very seriously. Here's the video.

Do we have a pitcher that will filter all contaminants, including Fluoride, out of your tap water? Yes. Here is a link to our latest pitcher that will do just that:UltraWater PH Pitcher See the chart, above, which compares the "best of the bottled water brands" with the "best of my pH pitchers": Essentia Bottled Water vs. UltraWater PH Pitcher.

HOW DOES IONIZED WATER BEAT OUT BOTTLED ​WATER IN EVERY SI​NGLE WAY?

• Good Filtration: Even if you pay the highest price for the best filtered bottled water, after it sits in a plastic container on the store shelf for a few weeks or months, it will need whatever has leached into it filtered out!
• PH: Fresh alkaline filtered water [especially if ionized] can be relied upon to give you far better health results.
• Antioxidants: I have witnessed the effects of a high-antioxidant value of ionized water when I saw the spider veins on my leg disappear right before my very eyes one day.
• Convenience: Some people think it's just more convenient to go to the store and buy water. If you think of the time it takes to go into the store alone, it is just not convenient.

MORE STORIES OF BOTTLED WATER:

THE RECYCLING MYTH

There's also the issue of plastic wastes. Of the billions of bottles of water sold in the US, only about 1/5 is recycled. Then out of the ones that are recycled, not all make it into the actual recycling process. Some even end up in landfills overseas! That means that not only is the production of bottles costing us millions of barrels of oil each year, but almost all of these bottles are filling our landfills and polluting our earth. The industrial chemicals that are in the material of the bottles haven’t been measured, other than BPA which is only one of the many potentially disease-causing agents in the bottles. Water, the universal solvent, has the ability to leach all kinds of chemicals into itself. The variables of time and temperature are not reported by bottling companies. The EWG, Environmental Working Group, recently found all kinds of contaminants, such as human wastes, bacteria and pharmaceuticals in several brands of bottled water. So, short of doing our own testing of each bottle, we have no assurance of purity and healthiness of the water. It's best to learn how to filter your tap water so YOU can know it's of the highest water quality.

It is time, as a society, that we work to reduce the amounts of things stored in plastics wherever possible. We think plastics are all being recycled, yet in reality only about 10% of all plastics made actually achieve that end.

We are being duped into thinking that our recycled bottles are all being responsibly taken care of. Watch the video, below, to get the real story of bottled water.

MORE BOTTLED WATER FACTS:

Most bottled water is just re-packaged tap water with added toxins from the bottling process and the bottles.

It takes 5 liters of water to make one liter of bottled water.

Plastics are the fastest growing form of municipal waste.

We use 15 million barrels of oil yearly to produce bottled water.

The weight of our yearly plastics wastes are 1.5 million TONS!

In one week we drink enough bottled water to make it halfway to the moon!

MORE TESTING OF BOTTLED WATER, TAP WATER, SODA & IONIZED WATER

None of the bottled water tested offers acceptable drinking water in my opinion. The amount of leaching of potentially disease-causing chemicals into the water from the plastic and the high oxidation levels of the bottled water tell me that this is unhealthy to drink. The EWG, Environmental Working Group, is dead-set against bottled water as well. With all of the testing they've done it would be advisable for you to actually visit their great website. They even found pharmaceuticals in several brands of bottled water. One big difference between your tap water and bottled water is that at least the EPA requires your municipality to report on the major, known, disease-causing agents in your tap water yearly. However bottled water companies have almost no regulations and quite often do not divulge what their test results are.

I did my own series of tests on the many brands of bottled water that are in the chart, below. My tests were focused on the pH, ORP, oxidation reduction potential, and fluoride levels of the various brands. If you pinned me down and made me declare which bottled water was the best to buy, I'd have to say Essentia, but then I'd be doing you a dis-service, because there is no bottled water that even compares to ionized water in potential health benefits to you. At the same time with a water ionizer you also save money after the first year or so of use. A water ionizer, lasting about 10 - 20 years or so, will eventually be one of the best economical deals you could make - for both your health and your wallet.

See the following chart for information about popular brands of bottled water as compared to each other and to ionized water. Where ORP is mentioned, what that stands for is "oxidation reduction potential", which is another way of saying antioxidants. The positive "+" sign means the water was oxidizing. The negative "-" sign means it is anti-oxidizing (contains antioxidants) and is in-line with what our bodies will accept readily.

Brand	Description/Notes	PH	ORP	Fluoride Content [mg./liter]
Absopure	Natural Spring Water: Processed by 1 Micron filtration, UV light, and Ozonated.	7.5	+281	.15
Amway Perfect Water	Bottled ionized water.	7.2	+250
Aquafina	Filtered Municipal Water [Made by Pepsi] Purified by reverse osmosis.	5	+430	.01
Arrowhead	US Spring Water. Called Mountain Spring water, but judging from the acidity, it's probably valley spring.	6.83	+360
Chill [Super Chill]	Natural Spring Water [from Jackson County, Michigan]	7.5	+271	.08
Crystal Geyser	Plain Water	6	+324
Culligan	RO Purified & Remineralized	8	+214
Dassani	Purified Tap Water [made by Coke]	4.5	+378	.09
Deer Park	Spring water, bottled by Nestle	6.3	+450
Distilled	Walmart Brand Distilled Water	5.0	+400	0
Drinking Water	Walmart Brand RO Purified Water [Remineralized]	4.5	+274	.15
Essentia	Purified, enhanced with electrolytes and Micro-Clustered Water [ionized]	9	+188	.15
Eternal Water	Naturally mountain spring water. Naturally alkaline water; electrolyte rich	7	+255	.03
Evamor	Artesian well water	8	+174	.21
Evian	Spring water	7	+350	.06
Fiji	Fiji Spring Water: From an ancient artesian aquifer deep within the earth.	7	+274	.1
Function		5	+436	0
Gatorade	This is made with regular water [not purified] and at least some artificial ingredients.	3.5	+325
Gerber Pure Water	Purified using reverse osmosis and distillation, with the following added: magnesium sulfate, potassium bicarbonate, calcium chloride.	6.5	+297	0
Great Value RO Water	Walmart Brand "Drinking Water" bottled in Quincy, IL, and processed by reverse osmosis.	6.5	+380
Ice Mountain	Natural Spring Water: From Frontier Springs, located in New Tripoli, PA and other cities in Pennsylvania and Maryland.	6	+302	.07
Hilton Head, Tap	Hilton Head Municipal Water Supply	8	+350
Ionized Water	*Athena Water Ionizer, St. Louis, MO	10	-700 Negative ORP!	.06
Lassens		6	+406	0
Los Angeles Tap Water Free	LA Municipal Water Supply	7.5	+350
New York City Tap Water	NY Municipal Water Supply	4	+440
New York [Kingston]	Well Water	6.5	+400
Penta	Purified water... 11-hour process [Purified by reverse osmosis/deionization with USP medical-grade oxygen. Source Colton Municipas Water District]	4	+392	.08
Perrier Water	Sparkling Water Made by Nestle	5.5	+400
Poland Spring Water	Spring Water Bottled by Nestle	5.8	+380	.08
Propel Fitness Drink		3.6	+280
[Nestle] Pure Life $1.00/gal.	Purified water & enhanced with minerals. Bottled by Nestle	6.5		0
[Gerber] Pure Water	Gerber brand purified with RO and remineralized.	6.5	+297
Real Water	Micro-Clustered Water	8.0	-60 Negative ORP!
Saint Louis, MO	St. Louis County Water Company [Tap]	9.4	+300	.5
Ionized St. Louis Tap Water	Using various water ionizers	9.5	-300 to -800	0 - .1
Soda: Canned Diet Pepsi	Typical Canned Soda	3.24	+377
Smartwater	Distilled and remineralized with calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potasium bicarbonate.	6	+296	0
Spring Water	"Great Value" Walmart Brand spring water. Source: Hummel Spring, Liberty, IL. Processed by Ozonation, carbon filtration ultraviolet treatment and microfiltration.	7	+284	.14
Super Chill	Natural Spring Water [from Jackson County, Michigan]	7	+271	.08
Vitaminwater		3.4	+430
Voss Water	Artesian well water from Norway.	6	+256	.19
WellBlue Pitcher	Lightly ionizing St. Louis water with portable WellBlue ionizer pitcher.	9.5	-200 Negative ORP!

SUMMARY: FACTS ABOUT BOTTLED WATER BRANDS

• All brands of bottled water are a lot more expensive than if you filtered the water properly yourself.
• Bottled water is often acidic.
• Bottled water brands are not regulated for water quality safety as well as municipalities are for your tap water.
• We are filling the landfills with empty bottles. We can't even use all the recycled plastics.
• The bottles are made with petroleum and there is chemical leaching into the water from them.
• Even with the best alkaline water brands, by the time they get to you they won't be even close to "perfect" any more.
• You can do a far better job of getting the best water (filtered and ionized to perfection) on your own with one of our great alkaline water machines, or our new Alkaline Plus PH Pitcher.

Source: https://alkalinewaterplus.com/analyzing-comparing-brands-of-bottled-water/