Spring Water

What is Spring Water? Spring Water is bottled water sourced from an underground aquifer that flows naturally to the Earth's surface, regulated as a distinct category by both the US FDA and the EU. As it travels through rock formations, it picks up dissolved minerals, giving each spring its own subtle character. With a total dissolved solids content typically below 250 parts per million, it sits below the threshold that would classify it as mineral water. The result is a clean, lightly mineralized water that pairs gracefully with wine, spirits, and food.

How Springs Form and Flow

A spring is a natural exit point where groundwater emerges from an aquifer onto the surface. Several mechanisms drive this flow: gravity and hydrostatic pressure pushing water through permeable layers, karst topography that channels water through cracks and fissures in soluble rock such as limestone, artesian pressure from confined aquifers, and geothermal or volcanic activity that produces hot springs.

Hydrologists classify springs by discharge magnitude. First magnitude springs release more than 2,800 liters per second, while progressively smaller magnitudes describe gentler flows; a magnitude of zero indicates a spring that once flowed but is no longer active. Springs are also categorized by flow regime — perennial springs run year-round, intermittent springs respond to the seasons, and periodic springs, like geysers, erupt in cycles.

Regulation and What Sets It Apart

Under the FDA's Standard of Identity, spring water must come from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface. It can also be collected through a borehole tapping the same source, provided the underground origin is identical. The EU's Directive 2009/54/EC takes a similar approach, recognizing natural mineral water and spring water as two main bottled categories with strict limits on permitted treatments.

The line between spring water and mineral water is drawn at 250 ppm of total dissolved solids from a protected underground source — above that figure, water qualifies as mineral water. Spring water typically falls below that threshold. Neither category permits the addition of minerals; treatment is restricted to removing unstable elements such as iron and sulfur compounds. This stands in contrast to purified water, sometimes labeled demineralized, which is produced through distillation, deionization, or reverse osmosis. The FDA also recognizes artesian, well, distilled, and sterile water as separate categories.

Composition and Safety

As spring water moves through underground rock, it dissolves traces of iron, sodium salts, sulfur, tannins, and occasionally arsenic. These minerals shape the water's taste — its weight on the palate, its faint sweetness or salinity — and are part of what makes one spring distinct from another.

Because some sources naturally carry arsenic at levels above WHO drinking water guidelines, testing is required before commercial bottling. FDA Standards of Identity require all bottled water, including spring water, to be calorie-free and sugar-free, with no sweeteners or chemical additives; flavors, extracts, or essences are permitted only under 1% by weight, beyond which the product is no longer water but a flavored beverage.