Bottled, mineral and distilled water in the UK: what is the difference?
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Mineral, spring, distilled, filtered, boiled. The words on a bottle or in a search box sound alike, but UK rules treat them very differently.
Short answer: UK law sets out 3 types of bottled water. Natural mineral water needs official recognition and a composition label, spring water must come from an underground source and be bottled at it, and bottled drinking water can come from any source, including public supplies. Distilled, filtered and boiled are ways of treating water, not extra types.
By Andrew Tomlinson, WaterKit · Last reviewed 25 October 2026
What are the types of bottled water in the UK?
There are 3, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Natural mineral water, spring water and bottled drinking water each have their own rules. In England those rules are the Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water (England) Regulations 2007. Defra says all 3 must be free of parasites and of bacteria that cause disease, and must meet limits for chemical, microbial and radioactive substances. After that they part company.
| Defra's comparison | Natural mineral water | Spring water | Bottled drinking water |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Underground source, tapped at a natural or drilled exit | Underground source, tapped at a natural or drilled exit | Any source, including public and private supplies |
| Bottled at a spring or borehole | Yes | Yes | No |
| Must keep its original purity and a stable composition | Yes | No | No |
| Recognition by the local council before sale | Yes | No | No |
| Composition on the label | Required | Not required | Not required |
| Treatments allowed | 5 only | Any | Any |
Defra adds that bottled drinking water is sometimes known as table water.
Who checks bottled water, and does it differ across the UK?
In England, local councils do, and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) does not. The DWI's bottled water page says the industry is regulated by local authorities. Regulation 16 of the 2007 Regulations tells each food authority to enforce them. Defra's guidance says the council registers a spring water or bottled drinking water producer's premises, then takes its own samples at the point of bottling and checks chemical and microbiological limits at least once a year. For natural mineral water the council grants recognition before sale, and Defra keeps a list of recognised natural mineral waters. Producers test too, and Defra tells bottled drinking water producers to agree with the council how often.
The other nations have their own versions. Wales and Northern Ireland each have Regulations dating from 2015, with guidance from the Food Standards Agency (FSA), and Scotland has the (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2007, with Defra pointing Scottish councils to Food Standards Scotland. They are similar but not identical. The Wales and Northern Ireland Regulations allow spring water only four treatments and no disinfection, and the FSA's guidance says England and Scotland have no such ban. Defra's guidance for England says there are no forbidden treatments for spring water.
Tap water is a separate system. The DWI regulates water companies under the 2016 Regulations in England, and its Drinking Water 2025 report gives 99.97% overall compliance. Our tap versus bottled water guide covers the comparison.
What do the labels tell you?
Which of the 3 types you are holding, and for two of them where it came from. This is what Defra says the label must carry.
- Natural mineral water. The words "natural mineral water", the name of the spring and the place it is exploited, and a statement of its chemical and mineral content. A fizzy one must use one of three descriptions, which are "naturally carbonated natural mineral water", "natural mineral water fortified with gas from the spring" or "carbonated natural mineral water". If fluoride is above 1.5 mg/l, the label must say so, and it must also say if free carbon dioxide was removed or ozone-enriched air was used.
- Spring water. The words "spring water", plus the spring's name and place, and a statement if ozone-enriched air was used.
- Bottled drinking water. The word "water" or "drinking water", and never "mineral water", "natural mineral water" or "spring water". A fizzy one can say "carbonated water" or "sparkling water".
Defra says labels and trade names must not mislead buyers about where the water comes from. For bottled drinking water, its example is that a producer cannot call water "Welsh Mountain Water" when it comes from a reservoir. Natural mineral water can be filtered or decanted, have free carbon dioxide removed, added or put back, or be treated with ozone-enriched air or activated alumina. Defra says disinfection is not permitted.
What do distilled, filtered, boiled and purified water mean?
They describe what was done to the water, not which bottled water type it is. Defra's bottled water guides do not use the words distilled or purified, and nor do the bottled water Regulations for England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, so we found no UK official definition of either for bottled drinks. The meanings below come from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the DWI.
| Word | What it describes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Distilled | Water that has been boiled, with the vapour condensed back to liquid. The RSC shows a blue copper sulfate solution boiling to give colourless water, so the dissolved substances stay behind. | RSC |
| Filtered | Water passed through a filter. The DWI lists the claims made for home filters, such as activated carbon for taste or odour, ion exchange for nitrate and reverse osmosis for minerals. | DWI |
| Boiled | Water heated to boiling in a kettle or pan. The DWI says boiling is effective against bacteria, viruses and parasites such as Cryptosporidium, and that temporary hardness can be removed by boiling, forming scale. | DWI |
| Purified | No UK official definition found for drinks. | Defra, legislation.gov.uk |
Our distilled water guide goes further, and our filter guide covers jugs. If your own supply is a spring, that is a private water supply and a different matter, which our well and borehole guide explains.
What can a test strip show on a bottled water sample?
It gives readings for nitrate, copper, manganese and hardness in under a minute, to set against the legal limits and the label. The WaterKit Water Test Kit has a 20-in-1 strip. Dip one in a sample, wait 30 to 60 seconds and match the pads to the chart. The right-hand column below is our own reading of the chart steps.
| Check | Official limit | What our chart can show |
|---|---|---|
| Nitrate | 50 mg/l for all 3 types | A reading of 25 or below is under the limit, 50 is at or near it, and 100 or more is above it |
| Copper | 2.0 mg/l for spring water and bottled drinking water, 1.0 mg/l for natural mineral water | Steps at 0.5, 1, 2 and 5 mg/l, so a reading of 1 sits at the lower limit and 2 sits at the higher one |
| Manganese | 0.50 mg/l for natural mineral water, and an indicator value of 0.05 mg/l that councils monitor for the other two | Steps at 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mg/l, so 0.05 sits at the indicator value and 0.5 at the mineral water limit |
| Hardness | No maximum limit | Steps at 0, 25, 50, 100, 250 and 425, which place a water between soft and hard |
Natural mineral water must show its composition, so the label gives you something to compare. The label lists calcium and magnesium separately and the hardness pad gives one band, so treat any match as rough. On water with its minerals removed, we would expect the hardness and alkalinity pads to read 0, meaning below their first colour step, but we have not tested this and make no claim about the pH pad.
Several things are outside what the kit can do.
- The rapid bacteria test is for tap and private supply samples. It is not designed for bottled water. It is a presence screen for coliforms, not a count, while the legal limit for E. coli is 0 per 250 ml, measured in a laboratory.
- Lead, mercury, chromium, aluminium, iron, nitrite and fluoride only change colour far above their limits, so a clear result on those pads is not a pass. That includes the 1.5 mg/l fluoride level that triggers a label statement.
- A strip result has no legal effect. Councils sample at the point of bottling, and the legal limits cover far more than the strip reads.
Best pack: 50 strips, enough to test your tap and a few samples side by side and again later, £8.99 (or £13.99 with a bacteria test for a tap or private supply sample), with free 2nd Class delivery on every order. See the kit
Your bottled and other water questions
What is distilled water?
Water boiled into steam and condensed back to liquid, which leaves dissolved substances behind. Our distilled water guide covers it in full.
How long does bottled water last?
We cover date marks, storage and opened bottles, with sources, in our guide to how long bottled water lasts.
Is bottled water distilled?
Not by definition. Defra's 3 types are separated by source, where they are bottled and how they are labelled, not by distillation. Bottled drinking water may have any treatment and need not list it, so the label may not say. In Scotland, spring water and bottled drinking water prepared from softened or desalinated water must keep a hardness of at least 60 mg Ca/l.
What is mineral water?
Defra's term is natural mineral water. It comes from a protected underground source, has official recognition, and shows its mineral composition on the label.
What is spring water, and is it the same as mineral water?
Spring water comes from an underground source and is bottled at the spring or borehole. It is not the same as mineral water in Defra's rules. It needs no council recognition, no stable composition and no composition label, and Defra says one cannot be sold as the other.
Is boiled water the same as distilled water?
No. The DWI says boiling is effective against germs and can remove temporary hardness as scale. Distillation condenses the vapour, which is what separates the water from what was dissolved in it.
Is bottled water filtered?
It can be. Defra says bottled drinking water may have any treatment and need not list it, and natural mineral water and spring water may be filtered or decanted, which needs no label wording. So a label may not tell you whether the water was filtered.
What is filtered water, and is it the same as distilled water?
Filtered water has passed through a filter, and the DWI lists carbon, ion exchange and reverse osmosis units. It is not the same as distilled water. The DWI says some jug filters leave permanent hardness unchanged, though reverse osmosis removes most dissolved solids.
Is tap water distilled?
No. The DWI says hardness is caused by dissolved calcium and magnesium, and that it varies with local geology, so tap water carries dissolved minerals. Our hard water guide explains.
Where does bottled water come from?
It depends on the type. Natural mineral water and spring water come from underground sources, and Defra says bottled drinking water can come from any source, including public and private supplies.
Is there VAT on bottled water?
Yes, at the standard rate. Schedule 8 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 lists bottled waters among the beverages excepted from the zero rate for food, and gov.uk gives the standard VAT rate as 20%.
Is bottled water better than tap water?
We found no UK official source that says so, and our tap versus bottled water guide sets out what the NHS, the DWI and the law say.
Everything in our bottled and other water guide
- What is distilled water? What it is, how it is made and what it is used for.
- How long does bottled water last? Date marks, storage and opened bottles.
- Is tap water bad for you, and is bottled water better? What the NHS, the DWI and the law say about tap versus bottled.
- What is the difference between mineral water and spring water?
- How do you make distilled water at home?
- What is spring water, and is it better than tap? What UK rules say spring water is and where it comes from.
- Is bottled water just tap water? What the Regulations say about the three types and where the water can come from.
- Is boiled water the same as distilled water? Why a kettle does not make distilled water and what boiling leaves behind.
- Is deionised water the same as distilled water? How the two are made and what each is used for.
- Does bottled water contain fluoride or chlorine? What the Regulations and Defra say about fluoride limits, labels and chlorine in bottled water.
- Is distilled water the same as filtered or purified? What each word means in UK rules and elsewhere.
- Is tumble dryer water distilled? What dryer makers say about the water and why it is not for drinking.
Sources
- Defra, Compare types of bottled water (published 28 May 2020; the 3 types and the comparison table; read 25 October 2026).
- Defra, Bottled drinking water: rules for local authorities (published 16 September 2020; any source, any treatment, labelling terms, council samples at the point of bottling at least once a year, table water; the page's chemical limits table for ongoing checks gives copper as 2 micrograms per litre, as does the spring water page, which conflicts with their other tables and with the Regulations at 2.0 mg/l, so we used the Regulations; read 25 October 2026) and Bottled drinking water: how to produce and label (published 28 May 2020; regular ongoing testing, frequency agreed with the council; read 25 October 2026).
- Defra, Natural mineral water: rules for local authorities (last updated 9 April 2026; recognition, 5 permitted treatments, no disinfection, labelling, the 3 fizzy descriptions, fluoride label above 1.5 mg/l; read 25 October 2026) and Spring water: rules for local authorities (last updated 9 April 2026; what counts as spring water, no forbidden treatments, labelling, council checks at least once a year; read 25 October 2026). Defra, Natural mineral waters: lists of recognised products (updated 23 January 2026; read 25 October 2026).
- The Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water (England) Regulations 2007, regulation 2 (the relevant bottled water legislation in the other nations), regulation 16 (each food authority executes and enforces), Schedule 2 (copper 2.0 mg/l, nitrate 50 mg/l, fluoride 1.5 mg/l, E. coli 0 per 250 ml) and Schedule 6 (natural mineral water maximum limits, copper 1.0 mg/l, manganese 0.50 mg/l, nitrate 50 mg/l) and Schedule 12 Part 9 (indicator values for spring water and bottled drinking water, manganese 50 µg/l; read 25 October 2026).
- Equivalent Regulations in the other nations, Wales 2015, Northern Ireland 2015 and Scotland (No. 2) 2007 (titles and enforcement by food authorities; regulation 15 in Wales and Northern Ireland, four treatments only for spring water and no disinfection; Scotland Schedule 2, a minimum hardness of 60 mg Ca/l for water prepared from softened or desalinated water; read 25 October 2026). Food Standards Agency, Water guidance for Wales and Northern Ireland (guidance document dated 27 October 2017 with a 2019 review date that has passed; page published 25 June 2026; four treatments allowed for spring water in Wales and Northern Ireland, and no such ban in England and Scotland; read 25 October 2026). Food Standards Scotland (named by Defra as the contact for Scotland).
- Drinking Water Inspectorate, Bottled Water (regulated by local authorities), Domestic water filters and softeners (undated page; filter types and reverse osmosis), Water hardness (calcium and magnesium, temporary hardness and boiling, jug filters) and Receiving a boil water notice (boiling and germs; read 25 October 2026).
- Drinking Water Inspectorate, Drinking Water 2025, compliance with water quality standards (99.97% overall; read 25 October 2026).
- Royal Society of Chemistry, Recovering water from a solution using a condenser (boiling a copper sulfate solution and condensing the water vapour; read 25 October 2026).
- Value Added Tax Act 1994, Schedule 8 (Group 1, excepted item 4, bottled waters) and gov.uk, VAT rates (standard rate 20%; read 25 October 2026).
- WaterKit, Water Test Kit (20-in-1 strip, 30 to 60 second read, rapid coliform test read after 24 to 48 hours, from £3.99, free 2nd Class delivery on every order, 30-day money-back guarantee) and results portal. The strip-chart column and the comments on expected readings are WaterKit's own reading of the colour chart steps.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.