Spring, mineral or remineralised?

The short answer

Categories and treatment rules from South Africa's Regulations Relating to All Packaged Water (R718 of 2006, as amended in 2010).

Natural mineral water

In South Africa, natural mineral water has to come from an underground water-bearing layer and be bottled at or close to the source. It can be filtered or left to settle, and carbon dioxide can be added or taken out, but that's all. The law requires that its mineral content is not modified.

That's the appeal, and it's also the catch. Whatever the source holds, the bottle holds: the minerals you want, and anything else the rock and the land around it have put there.

Spring water

Spring water comes from an underground formation where the water flows naturally to the surface, collected at the spring itself or through a borehole into the same formation. Like mineral water, it's sold on the idea of nature. But "natural" describes where water comes from. It isn't a guarantee of what's in it.

• Geology decides the minerals. Spring water carries whatever the rock gave it, so the mineral content varies widely from one source to the next. The same rock can give it things you don't want: uranium occurs naturally in groundwater in parts of the Northern Cape.
• Location decides the risks. Groundwater and surface water are connected, so farming, mining and settlements in a catchment can affect the aquifers that feed springs and boreholes. On the West Rand, gold mining has carried uranium into streams such as the Wonderfonteinspruit.
• The wider water system is under strain. Many of South Africa's rivers and dams carry sewage from failing treatment works, acid mine drainage and industrial chemicals such as PFAS. Here's what the government's own reports found.

Can you trust spring water?

Some spring waters are excellent. The problem is that, as a buyer, you're taking a lot on trust. Here's what the rules do, and don't, cover:

• Natural water can't be purified. If a contaminant reaches the source of a natural mineral or natural spring water, the bottler isn't allowed to treat it out. The only options are filtering and settling, or selling the water under a different category.
• The limits have gaps. The regulations set maximum levels for a list of substances such as lead, arsenic and mercury. That list includes no specific limit for PFAS or for uranium.
• Testing is largely up to the bottler. The regulations set limits and labelling rules, but they don't say how often a source has to be tested. Day-to-day quality control rests with the company, with enforcement delegated to municipal health inspectors.
• The industry says so itself. The CEO of the South African National Bottled Water Association has warned that of the growing number of water products on the market, "not all of them are safe, regulated or honest".
• Researchers have found problems. A 2022 study by Pretoria researchers of 12 commonly available bottled water brands reported levels of chromium, nickel and lead above WHO limits in some samples, and judged three brands potentially unsafe. An earlier Pretoria study found two of eight packaged water brands failed microbial quality guidelines.

None of this means every spring water is unsafe. It means that with natural water, the quality of what you drink depends on one source, one company's testing, and everything happening around that source, none of which you can see from the shelf.

Purified water

Purified water can start from any approved supply and is treated until almost nothing is left in it, usually by reverse osmosis or distillation. It solves the contamination problem, but creates another: it's empty. With almost no minerals, it tastes flat.

Remineralised water

Remineralised water, also called mineral-infused water, finishes the job. It's purified to almost zero, removing heavy metals, PFAS, uranium and other radioactive elements, nitrates, pesticides and bacteria. Then natural minerals are added back in measured amounts: calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium and bicarbonates.

It doesn't depend on a pristine source, a protected catchment or a single company's testing schedule. What's been removed is known, what's been added is measured, and both are on the label: in South Africa, remineralised water is prepared water, and its label has to state the treatment used and its full chemical composition. Here's how remineralised water works.

So which one should you choose?

If you want water exactly as one particular source made it, and you trust that source and its bottler, choose a spring or natural mineral water and read its composition carefully.

If you want to know exactly what you're drinking, every time, choose remineralised water. That's why it's becoming the new standard. Here's how to choose a premium water.

Peak Hydration is remineralised water, made in South Africa. Find it near you.

Questions, answered

Published 8 October 2026 by Peak Hydration