June 12, 2018

If you’ve walked through any supermarket or convenience store in Hong Kong, you’ve likely seen fancy bottles of “Artesian Water” being sold at premium prices to regular bottled water. But what is Artesian Water and is it really better? We’re here to break it down for you.

What is Artesian Water?

Artesian water is simply a type of spring water that comes from artesian wells. It is a type of spring water that, because of the pressure of its underground flow, naturally forces itself to the surface without requiring a manmade pump. 

The Debate

Some argue that because of the force of the water as it comes to the surface, it is naturally filtered. However most artesian water isn’t that different from well water, which means it can contain contaminants that regularly found in natural water like pesticides, bacteria, viruses, lead, and more.

Some of the companies don’t filter their artesian water, claiming the water is “untouched” until you drink it, which sounds lovely but doesn’t indicate that all harmful contaminants have been removed by the highest possible degree.

Impact on the Environment

Although there is ongoing debate over whether artesian water is really a better form of spring water, what there isn’t debate about is this:

Bottled Artesian water that you find at the stores are not good for the environment. Anytime you are consuming water in a bottle for one time use, is going to negatively affect the environment.

Disposable plastic bottles being the worse offender, as plastic often ends up polluting our oceans. Even recycling takes unnecessary resources and not all plastic is able to be recycled.

Additionally, research has recently shown that tiny particles of plastic have been found in 90% of water bottled in disposable plastic bottles. That means you are consuming plastic if you drink water from disposable plastic bottles.

In the end, the best and safest choice is to use your own reusable water bottle, and fill it with carbon filtered tap water, which removes over 99% of harmful contaminants AND leaves the good minerals in the water. Home filtration systems like the WaterChef Countertop or Under-sink filters make it easy to have access to safe, clean, healthy water AND helps protect our environment.

Source: Aquasana, MedicineNet