Investigation of the hydrogeochemistry of some bottled mineral waters in Hungary

Bottled drinking water constitutes a significant part of total water consumption in developed countries and national and EU legislation regulates their market production. In the framework of an international project carried out by the EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry Expert Group 36 bottled waters were obtained from public markets in Hungary in order to determine their hydrogeochemical composition. The objective of this study is to investigate the possible relationship between groundwater aquifer lithology and the processed and marketed bottled waters, and to develop a classification of bottled waters, based on their dissolved mineral content. Analytical results of this study are compared with the composition shown on bottle labels, and with archive hydrochemical data from the producing wells. Results show that, while processing of original groundwater, such as oxygen addition, iron or hydrogen-sulphide removal can significantly alter water composition, bottled water composition can be used for selection of sites for detailed hydrogeochemical and hydrogeological characterization. A simple and useful classification of bottled water quality is also presented that is based on natural groups of sampled waters derived by means of statistical data analysis methods.