As the summer season sets in and temperatures continue to rise, it's essential to stay hydrated. While there are loads of cheap, eco-friendly ways to quench your thirst, plastic bottled water remains a popular option for Canadian consumers. While you might be set in your hydrating habits, not every bottled water brand in Canada is the same, and no, we're not just talking about their names.
I put seven of Canada's bottled water brands to the test to uncover the real composition of their contents. Although it's generally safe to consume bottled water in our nation, I wanted to dig deeper. The question is not just about safety, but about which brands offer the best quality, and which ones you might be better off avoiding.
I opted for some of the most popular brands including Flow, Nestlé Pure Life, Smartwater, Aquafina, Naya, Dasani and Eska.
@mtlblog I put seven of Canada's bottled water brands to the test to uncover the real composition of their contents. 💦 #bottledwater #waterbottle #litmustest #water #canada #montreal #mtl #mtltiktok #watertesting
To get the lowdown on what we're really sipping, I employed a 16-in-1 water test kit. This handy tool doesn't just tell you what's in your water, it gives you the whole story. From chlorine and copper to lead, fluoride, iron, and nitrates, it reveals it all. It even helps you understand the water's alkalinity, hardness, and pH level, among other things.
Now, while I didn't need a lab coat, goggles and gloves for this experiment, I did make sure to follow the directions to the T. I began by submerging the testing strips into the water samples for two seconds using a pair of tweezers and then placed them on a towel to dry for 30 seconds. Once the strips dried, I compared the strip colours to that of the "normal" or "acceptable" levels allowed in water provided in the water test kit to see just how the seven brands of bottled water compare.
Turns out, all seven are definitely potable, but one came out on top, while another proved itself to be the worst of the bunch. Here are the complete results for each brand of bottled water:
Smartwater — BEST
A bottle of Smartwater.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that a brand called Smartwater would be among the best of the seven bottled water brands. The water is marketed as "pH balanced" and has added "electrolytes for taste" and managed to score a zero when it came to the presence of water hardness, free and total chlorine, iron, copper, nitrate, nitrite and fluoride.
Furthermore, Smartwater has a pH level of 6.5, which isn't the best, considering Health Canada says the operational guideline for pH is a range of 7.0 to 10.5 in finished drinking water, and while Smartwater was just shy of Canada's standards when it comes to drinking water, a 6.5 will do just fine.
- Total hardness: 0 mg/l
- Free chlorine: 0 mg/l
- Iron: 0 mg/l
- Copper: 0 mg/l
- Nitrate: 0 mg/l
- Nitrite: 0 mg/l
- Total chlorine: 0 mg/l
- Fluoride: 0 mg/l
- Alkalinity: 0 mg/l
- pH: 6.5
Eska — GREAT
A bottle of Eska water.
Oh, Eska. Its pH falls at a perfect 7.6, which is all you can ask for. The water scored a zero for literally everything but chlorine and copper. However, considering how minimal the total chlorine is and how vital chlorine is for eliminating waterborne diseases, per Health Canada, it's practically worth turning a blind eye to — making it one of the most balanced spring waters around.
Total hardness: 0 mg/l- Free chlorine: 0.5 mg/l
- Iron: 0 mg/l
- Copper: 0.5 mg/l
- Lead: 0 mg/l
- Nitrite: 0 mg/l
- Total chlorine: 0 mg/l
- Fluoride: 0
- Alkalinity: 0
- pH: 7.6
Flow — GOOD
A box of Flow water.
Flow is certainly a solid choice. Its pH level is an immaculate 8.2, which corresponds almost perfectly with the 8.1 pH level marketed on the bottle's packaging. There was a tiny presence of total chlorine in this bottled water but not nearly enough to exceed Canada's regulations surrounding chlorine in drinking water. "chlorine concentrations in most Canadian drinking water distribution systems range from 0.04 to 2.0 mg/L," Health Canada states.
- Total hardness: 50 mg/l
- Free chlorine: 0.5 mg/l
- Iron: 0 mg/l
- Copper: 0.5 mg/l
- Lead: 0 mg/l
- Nitrate: 0 mg/l
- Nitrite: 0 mg/l
- Total chlorine: 0.5 mg/l
- Fluoride: 0 mg/l
- Alkalinity: 0 mg/l
- pH: 8.2
Dasani — GOOD
A bottle of Dasani water.
Dasani has a taste that I simply cannot stand, and I'm sure many would agree. Well, it turns out that the flavour is not indicative of the water quality, because that's actually pretty good, maybe even great. Whether you choose to believe it or not (note that this is based on like…science) Dasani was actually close to being the best of the seven bottled water brands.
However, Dasani does have a tiny presence of copper and a pretty sucky pH level, knocking it down a few pegs.
- Total hardness: 0 mg/l
- Free chlorine: 0 mg/l
- Iron: 0 mg/l
- Copper: 0.5 mg/l
- Lead: 0 mg/l
- Nitrate: 0 mg/l
- Nitrite: 0 mg/l
- Total chlorine: 0 mg/l
- Fluoride: 0 mg/l
- Alkalinity: 0 mg/l
- pH: 6.0
Pure Life — GOOD
A bottle of Pure Life water.
Nestlé Pure Life also provided a near-perfect score, with a stunning pH level of 8.8 and absolutely no signs of iron, copper, lead, fluoride or alkalinity.
This bottled water did have some hardness and total chlorine but nothing worth losing even an ounce of sleep over.
- Total hardness: 25 mg/l
- Free chlorine: 0 mg/l
- Iron: 0 mg/l
- Copper: 0 mg/l
- Lead: 0 mg/l
- Nitrate: 0 mg/l
- Nitrite: 0 mg/l
- Total chlorine: 0.5 mg/l
- Fluoride: 0 mg/l
- Alkalinity: 0 mg/l
- pH: 8.8 mg/l
Naya — GOOD
A bottle of Naya water.
Naya is also a pretty solid choice. The water has a pH level of 8, which is ideal for drinking water. It scored zero in all the important spots with the exception of the minimal presence of total and free chlorine, as well as some water hardness, which Health Canada describes as being "primarily caused by the presence of calcium and magnesium in the water." And there's nothing wrong with adding a little bit more Ca and Mg in one's diet at these Naya levels.
- Total hardness: 50 mg/l
- Free chlorine: 0.5 mg/l
- Iron: 0 mg/l
- Copper: 0 mg/l
- Lead: 0 mg/l
- Nitrate: 0 mg/l
- Nitrite: 0 mg/l
- Total chlorine: 0.5 mg/l
- Fluoride: 0 mg/l
- Alkalinity: 0 mg/l
- pH: 8.0
Aquafina — WORST
A bottle of Aquafina water.
Mike Chaar | MTL Blog
When you open a bottle of Aquafina, you'll notice it actually fizzes, the same way as if you're opening a bottled soft drink, which is a little disconcerting. It's perfectly fine water to drink, but it did have the results of the seven. And who wants to drink last-place water, right?
With the highest presence of total and free chlorine of all seven brands I tested, along with some hardness and a pitiful pH level of 5.8, Aquafina just isn't it.
- Total hardness: ~ 15 mg/l
- Free chlorine: 0.5 mg/l
- Iron: 0 mg/l
- Copper: 0.5 mg/l
- Lead: 0 mg/l
- Nitrate: 0 mg/l
- Nitrite: 0 mg/l
- Total chlorine: 1 mg/l
- Fluoride: 0 mg/l
- Alkalinity: 0 mg/l
- pH: 5.8
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