Water, in the Middle East, is costlier than gas.

Distilled, purified, bottled. Spring, mineral, tonic. They come in various sizes and forms and, in Saudi and Kuwait, come in a stiff price. (In Kuwait, a liter of water is costlier than a liter of gas -- roughly in peso: PHP13 water, PHP9 gas).

For Pinoys abroad, bottled water is an important commodity. Since I came to Saudi, I never drank tap water. I wanted to but I was warned that it's unhealthy to drink tap water. Ditto in Kuwait. In the Philippines, where I used to drink water straight from the faucet, we primitively use a water filter. (Primitively because other houses have a reverse osmosis machine installed in their kitchen; we don't).

And then I thought: Which of them bottled water in Kuwait is 'better'? More importantly, what makes a bottled water 'better'? Me know not so let's go to the authorities.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) listed calcium as a good source for reducing osteoporosis and magnesium for reducing cardiovascular disezase mortality.

Sodium is essential to our body and is present in almost all of the foods we eat. In a day, our maximum intake of sodium should not exceed 1,500mg or 2/3 of a spoon (and since it's present in most of our foods, most people take more than the recommended daily sodium intake). So I guess in bottled water (you can prove me wrong if you want and I'll welcome it), the lesser the sodium, the better.



Perhaps the ultimate reading on and about bottled water is this NRDC publication.

And on tap water, this WHO article.

With the influx of mineral water distribution stores in the Philippines which ironically get their water from tap faucets and who are not required to put mineral labels as commercially-sold bottled water do, how are we guaranteed that the bottled water is safe and indeed 'purified'?

In comes Manny Villar to the rescue -- or perhaps he has another business prospect in mind. Hmmm...them businessmen!