Reasons do vary like taste preference, quality concerns, and prevention of diseases etc but people in both developed and developing countries prefer to drink bottled water.All the drinking water comes either from surface sources such as rivers and lakes or from underground sources such as wells and deep bores and travels to your home through a pipe. Safe drinking water is essential to good health as contaminated water may pose several health risks.

Taste and Quality:

• Taste and quality of water vary among sources, method of water treatment, locations and suppliers.
• Presence of small amounts of few minerals /contaminants don't make drinking water unsafe as few minerals (Ca & Mg) are required by body in small amounts and they provide a distinct taste to water
• However, levels of essential minerals and other contaminants higher than the prescribed limits set by the regulating agencies may be harmful vto human health.

Preference for Bottled Water:

Bottled water is generally preferred by majority due to its taste difference to tap water. Tap water is generally treated by disinfectants such as Chlorine with high concentration to have its effect for a longer time as supply water has to run in the pipes for a considerable time. Taste of bottled water is different from tap water due to the source of water. Source of water mainly influences the taste of water due to minerals present or dissolved in the drinking water.

Disinfectants used for water treatment:

• chlorine (used to disinfect tap oer supply water )
• chloramine (used to disinfect tap or supply water)
• ozone, or ultraviolet light to disinfect bottled water

How safe is Bottled water? It depends on several factors like:

• Source of bottled water: It can come either from a surface (river or stream) or a ground water source (well or spring),
• Surface water has more vulnerability for contamination
• Ground water as a source doesn't completely rules out possibilities of contaimination
• Ground water can also have high amounts of contaiminants like radioactive elements, arsenic, industrial waste, septic water etc.
• It is also important to know that how the water has been treated before bottling.
• Labels on the bottles should indicate type of water like spring/mineral/ drinking water etc
• Bottled water must meet the regulatory standards