Mineral Content of Bottled and Desalinated Household Drinking Water in Kuwait

Three hundred and twenty-two samples of desalinated household water were collected from 99 sampling locations that covered 95% of Kuwaiti's residential areas. Seventy-one brands of bottled water were collected from Kuwaiti markets. The water quality parameters that were studied included pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), F ^-, Cl ^-, Br ^-, NO ₂ ^-, NO ₃ ^-, SO ₄ ^2-, PO ₄ ^3-, BrO ₃ ^-, ClO ₃ ^-, ClO ₂ ^-, and the major macronutrients Na ⁺, K ⁺, Ca ²⁺, and Mg ²⁺. The analysis yielded a large range of results for most of these parameters, with differences in some cases exceeding 10-fold. With a few exceptions, the results were found to comply with US-EPA and WHO standards. Only the water in two brands of bottled water was acidic (pH<6.5). The TDS was found to be higher than the US-EPA regulated value in 4 and 3% of the household samples and bottled water brands, respectively. The fluoride levels were generally higher in bottled water than in household water. However, the household water that was produced by the Doha desalination plant and some of the European brands of bottled water were the best samples studied in terms of their quantity of Ca ²⁺, Mg ²⁺, and Na ⁺ compared with the DRI values for those substances. EC and TDS were positively correlated with NO ₃ ^-, SO ₄ ^2-, Na ⁺, K ⁺, Ca ²⁺, and Mg ²⁺ for household water but only with Ca ²⁺ and Mg ²⁺ for bottled water.