Hydrogeochemical Characteristics of Bottled Waters Sourced from Bedrock Aquifers in South Korea: Evaluation of Water Type and Natural Background Levels

Kyoung Jin Lee, Soonyoung Yu, Kyoung Ho Kim, Kyoung Gu Kang, Suh Yung Moon, Moon Su Kim, Seong Taek Yun

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    4 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The hydrogeochemical properties of bottled waters (n = 37) were examined to evaluate the factors governing their quality and to suggest the natural background levels (NBLs) of groundwater. The bottled waters were sourced from bedrock aquifers of various geological types and analyzed for 14 physicochemical parameters and 48 trace elements. The bottled waters mainly consisted of the Ca-HCO3 type with low TDS (mean = 158.4 mg/L; n = 33) regardless of geological type, indicating low degrees of water–rock interaction. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) showed that these waters were characterized by the dissolution of calcite and Ca-plagioclase (PC1) and the weathering of Na-plagioclase and cation exchange (PC2). The PCA results with low concentrations of TDS and F (mean = 0.4 mg/L) revealed that the waters represent slightly mineralized groundwater, probably because the boreholes were installed in fractured aquifers, avoiding high F concentrations (>1.5 mg/L). The 90th percentiles for the Ca-HCO3 type bottled waters were proposed as the NBLs for Korean groundwater for 11 major elements and 20 trace elements. The NBLs of NO3 (7.9 mg/L) and F (0.9 mg/L) were similar to the 90th percentiles of EU bottled waters (n = 1785), implying the suggested NBLs are acceptable for groundwater quality management.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number1457
    JournalWater (Switzerland)
    Volume14
    Issue number9
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2022 May 1

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

    Keywords

    • South Korea
    • bedrock aquifer
    • bottled water
    • hydrogeochemistry
    • natural background levels (NBLs)

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Water Science and Technology
    • Geography, Planning and Development
    • Aquatic Science
    • Biochemistry

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