Quality of Bottled Potable Water Locally Consumed in Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Abstract


Eleven commercial brands of bottled potable water locally consumed in Egypt, were investigated from the chemical and physicochemical points of view. Analysis included each of the following determinations : pH value, conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), total alkalinity(TAC), cations (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and iron), anions (bicarbonate, chlorides, fluorides, nitrate, phosphate, silica and sulphate) in addition to 14 heavy metals (antimony, arsenic, barium, boron, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium, silver and tin).
Data revealed that all samples which were analyzed twice in two different periods cope in general with the standard specifications recommended by WHO and Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). However, laboratory values for some chemical components were different from that mentioned on labels belonging to some brands

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