I agree with the OP that neither the tap water here nor the mineral water tastes anything like the spring water I use to drink in the States.
And I also really miss it because, for one thing, after I started drinking spring water for a few weeks, I felt my energy level dramatically increase. I have no idea why, but it did. I think the spring water was also oxygenated or something, though it wasn't like the "sparkly" gassed water you get here.
Placebo effect.
You all must have very refined taste buds. All water to me taste like water. Blech. Which is why I only drink wine & vodka tonics! J/K, in case mom is reading.
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We're lucky. Where I live, every village has a number of water troughs fed by spring water. Locals fill their plastic bottles from there. Tastes great and, touch wood, we're still alive and kicking.
I agree with the OP that neither the tap water here nor the mineral water tastes anything like the spring water I use to drink in the States.
And I also really miss it because, for one thing, after I started drinking spring water for a few weeks, I felt my energy level dramatically increase. I have no idea why, but it did. I think the spring water was also oxygenated or something, though it wasn't like the "sparkly" gassed water you get here.
I think the process is called Ionization, but it could be what you said as well. They do that to the source bottle water in the states like Poland Springs or Aquafina, maybe even that Fiji stuff too.
In Michigan, we had this water called Absopure, and it comes from an aquifer from the western part of the state. It was fresh and crisp as well; when dranken cold. ALOT of bottled water, and I believe Aquafina and the one Coke bottles, is straight from the tap water.
Again though source or mineral water is all really mineral water in the end, except the water labeled as mineral is something you can really taste the calcium, the limestone, the volcanic purification and etc. Tap water/Source water, etc has mineral content in them as well, some are just trace amounts, others are higher in different elements.
When I a kid, I would drink this stuff, which might be still on the market called Clearly Canadian, that I think was bottled in New Hampshire or somewhere. They flavored it with hints of berries and called it mineral water. All together marketing at hand.
Hey, this is a forum where sweet sad lil expats look for the stuff that they are missing....what's up with all the judging?
And, no mineral water is NOT spring water. They are both good, but two very different things.
And, I live in sight of Evian right across the lake (well, when I'm home). And my tap water tastes like carp. Fo real, the water that come out of the tap is positively lake-alicious. Not all Swiss tap water is delicious, unfortunately.
In Switzerland there is a differentiation between "natürlichem Mineralwasser" (natural mineral water) and "künstlichem Mineralwasser" (artificial mineral water) (actually Tafelwasser (lit.: table water) is the expression more commonly used for the later).
Natürliches Mineralwasser has to have constant content of minerals. It is not allowed to mix in any minerals (otherwise it would be "künstiches Mineralwasser"), so all the water sold under a certain brand has actually to come from the same spring. Although technically groundwater would be allowed, this is not really done.
Water that it is sold as "Tafelwasser" on the other hand is refined tap water with some minerals added.
The term Quellwasser (spring water) also exists and includes all Water that was bottled at the spring and not processed or only processed by procedures that are allowed for "Natürliches Mineralwasser".
The requirements for "Quellwasser" are actually lower than for "Natürlichem Mineralwasser". Whereas in "Natürlchem Mineralwasser" the contents of the minerals have to be constant, this condition does not exist for "Quellwasser".
Compare the regulation regarding Quellwasser:
Quote:
Art. 7
Definition
Quellwasser ist Trinkwasser, das an der Quelle abgefüllt und nicht oder nur mit den
für natürliches Mineralwasser zulässigen Verfahren aufbereitet wird.
Art. 8
Anforderungen
Quellwasser muss bei der Abgabe an Konsumentinnen und Konsumenten die für
Trinkwasser geltenden Reinheitsanforderungen erfüllen. Es muss zudem den mikro-
biologischen Eigenschaften von natürlichem Mineralwasser entsprechen.
1
Quellwasser darf keiner Behandlung unterworfen und mit keinem Zusatz versehen
werden. Ausgenommen sind die Verfahren nach Artikel 13 Absatz 2.
2
3
Für Quellwasser gelten die Artikel 17 und 18 sinngemäss.
to the regulation regarding "Natürliches Mineralwasser":
Quote:
Art. 11
Lebensmittel und Gebrauchsgegenstände
Definition
Natürliches Mineralwasser ist mikrobiologisch einwandfreies Wasser, das aus einer
oder mehreren natürlichen Quellen oder aus künstlich erschlossenen unterirdischen
Wasservorkommen besonders sorgfältig gewonnen wird.
Art. 12
Anforderungen
Natürliches Mineralwasser muss sich auszeichnen durch besondere geologische
Herkunft, Art und Menge der mineralischen Bestandteile, ursprüngliche Reinheit
sowie durch die im Rahmen natürlicher Schwankungen gleichbleibende Zusammen-
setzung und Temperatur. Dies muss nach wissenschaftlich anerkannten Verfahren
wie folgt überprüft werden:
1
a. geologisch und hydrogeologisch;
b. physikalisch, chemisch und physikalisch-chemisch;
c. mikrobiologisch.
Die mikrobiologischen Untersuchungen müssen mindestens einmal im Monat
während mindestens eines Jahres durchgeführt werden.
2
Die zuständigen kantonalen Vollzugsbehörden sind über das Ergebnis dieser
Untersuchung zu informieren. Es sind die Unterlagen nach dem Anhang einzurei-
chen.
3
Art. 13
Zugelassene Behandlungen und Reinheitsanforderungen
Natürliches Mineralwasser darf keiner Behandlung unterworfen und mit keinem
Zusatz versehen werden.
1
2
Abweichend von Absatz 1 sind erlaubt:
a. das Dekantieren und Filtrieren, eventuell nach Belüftung mit hygienisch
einwandfreier Luft, zum Entfernen oder Vermindern von unerwünschten
Bestandteilen, sofern das natürliche Mineralwasser durch diese Behandlung
in seinen wesentlichen Bestandteilen keine Veränderung erfährt;
b. die vollständige oder teilweise Entfernung des Kohlendioxids durch aus-
schliesslich physikalische Verfahren;
c. die Zugabe von Kohlendioxid;
d. andere Behandlungen, wenn diese:
1. zwingend notwendig sind,
2. das natürliche Mineralwasser in seinen wesentlichen Bestandteilen
nicht verändern, und
3. nicht der hygienischen Verbesserung eines an der Quelle nicht ein-
wandfreien natürlichen Mineralwassers dienen.
Natürliches Mineralwasser muss bei der Abgabe an Konsumentinnen und Konsu-
menten mindestens die für Trinkwasser geltenden Reinheitsanforderungen erfüllen.
As you can see "Natürliches Mineralwasser" has to fulfill much stricter regulations then "Quellwasser". Thus it is more valuable for marketing.
If you want to know weather a certain water origines in a spring or refined tap water, you have to look whether it is labled as "Natürliches Mineralwasser" or as "Tafelwasser". If its labeled Natürliches Mineralwasser it is most likely spring water.
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Many communities have public fountains that are directly fed by springs even if domestic taps aren't. In Zurich there's a completely different set of fountains called “Notwasserbrunnnen” (emergency water fountains) fed only by spring water using a separate set of tubes. Normal tap water in the city is a mixture of spring water and lake water, but in case there were a problem with the water from the lake, the Notwasserbrunnen can be opened at the side and extensions with lots of taps added to act as source of clean spring water for the public.
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