Best Spring Water Brands Compared: pH, Minerals, and Lab Data
Key Takeaways
- All five brands publish water quality reports showing no detected arsenic, lead, or mercury.
- Evian carries the most minerals per liter. Voss and Saratoga carry the least.
- Mountain Valley is the strongest American option for mineral content, with 67 mg/L of calcium and a neutral pH.
- Every figure in this article comes from company-commissioned lab testing. Independent third-party data barely exists for bottled water, and that limitation matters.
- Higher mineral content is not automatically better. The right water depends on what the rest of your diet already provides.
The content in this article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making changes to your health routine.
Spring water is one of the few grocery items where the manufacturer hands you a lab report. Every major brand publishes an annual water quality analysis listing minerals, pH, nitrate, heavy metals, and disinfection byproducts. Almost nobody reads them. I did, and this article compares five widely available brands sold in glass: Mountain Valley, Acqua Panna, Evian, Voss, and Saratoga.
I limited the list to still waters available in glass bottles across most of the United States. Glass matters because plastic bottles shed microplastics and can leach plasticizers into the water, and the entire point of paying for spring water is avoiding what you do not want. All figures below come from each company's most recent published water quality report or current label analysis, with dates noted where the reports diverge.
Spring Water Comparison Table
Values are mg/L unless noted. "ND" means not detected in testing. "n/r" means the company did not report that parameter.
| Metric | Mountain Valley | Acqua Panna | Evian | Voss (Still) | Saratoga (Still) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Spring, Ouachita Mtns, AR (USA) | Spring, Tuscany (Italy) | Spring, French Alps (France) | Artesian, Southern Norway | Spring, Saratoga Springs, NY (USA) |
| Glass sizes (typical) | 500 mL, 1 L | 500 mL, 750 mL, 1 L | 330 mL, 750 mL | 375 mL, 800 mL | 12 oz, 28 oz |
| pH | 7.2–7.4 | 7.7 lab / 8.0 label | 7.2 | 5.9–6.0 | 6.4–6.7 |
| TDS | 220 | ~150 | 345 | 40–44 | 30–44 |
| Calcium | 67.0 | 33.1 | 80 | 2.7–5 | 7.5–9 |
| Magnesium | 7.2 | 6.6 | 26 | 0.6–1 | ND–1.1 |
| Sodium | 2.5 | 6.5 | ~7 | 3 | 2.0–2.2 |
| Potassium | 1.4 | ND | 1 | ND | ND |
| Nitrate† | ND | ~2.1 | ~3.8–4.0 | <0.22 | 0–3.0 |
| Heavy metals (As, Pb, Hg) | ND in WQR | ND in WQR | ND in AWQR | ND in WQR | ND in WQR |
| PFAS (if reported) | n/r | ND (panel) | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| U.S. availability | Grocery + nationwide delivery | Grocery + delivery | Grocery + restaurants | Grocery + online | Grocery + delivery |
Mountain Valley
Acqua Panna
Evian
Voss (Still)
Saratoga (Still)
† Nitrate values are mg/L nitrate (NO3). Where reports listed nitrate as nitrogen, values were converted at 4.43x. Figures reflect each brand's most recent published water quality report or current label analysis as of 2026.
How to Read These Numbers
TDS (total dissolved solids) measures everything dissolved in the water, which in a clean spring source means minerals. Higher TDS means more mineral flavor and more calcium and magnesium per glass. Lower TDS tastes lighter and contributes almost nothing nutritionally. Neither is wrong. A person eating a mineral-dense diet does not need mineral-dense water, while someone drinking two liters a day may as well get calcium with it.
pH in bottled water tracks its bicarbonate and mineral content rather than doing anything to your body's pH, which your lungs and kidneys regulate tightly. Low-mineral waters like Voss test slightly acidic because there is little dissolved mineral buffer in them. This is not a defect and not a health concern. Treat pH as a fingerprint of the source, not a score.
Calcium and magnesium are the two minerals present in nutritionally meaningful amounts. Studies on mineral water show calcium from water absorbs at least as well as calcium from dairy. A liter of Evian provides 80 mg of calcium and 26 mg of magnesium, which is a real contribution over a year of daily drinking. A liter of Saratoga provides close to none.
Nitrate enters groundwater mainly through agricultural runoff, so a low or undetectable nitrate reading tells you something about how protected the source is. All five brands test far below the 44 mg/L federal limit. Mountain Valley and Voss are effectively nitrate-free, which reflects their remote, forested source areas.
Heavy metals and PFAS are where the reports earn their keep. All five show no detectable arsenic, lead, or mercury. Only Acqua Panna published a PFAS panel, which came back not detected. The others simply do not report it, and not reporting is not the same as not detecting. I would like to see every brand run and publish a PFAS panel, and until they do, this column stays mostly empty.
Brand Profiles
Mountain Valley
Bottled at the same Arkansas spring since 1871, surrounded by 2,000 acres of protected forest. It delivers the best mineral content of any American water on this list, with 67 mg/L of calcium, a neutral pH, and no detectable nitrate. The green glass bottles are widely available, and home delivery in 5-gallon glass makes it the most practical choice for a household switching entirely to spring water. This is the one I reach for.
Acqua Panna
Sourced from a limestone aquifer in Tuscany, where the water filters underground for roughly 14 years before bottling. Moderate minerals, soft taste, and the only brand here with a published PFAS panel, which came back clean. One note on marketing: the label advertises a pH of 8.0, while the 2023 US lab report measured 7.66. The water is fine. The rounding tells you how much brands lean on the alkaline trend.
Evian
The most mineralized water on this list at 345 mg/L TDS, with 80 mg/L calcium and 26 mg/L magnesium picked up during a 15-year filtration through alpine rock. If your goal is minerals per glass, Evian wins outright, and its magnesium content in particular stands apart from every other brand here. Glass availability is thinner in the US than the plastic bottles, so check restaurant suppliers and larger grocers.
Voss
An artesian source in Southern Norway, sealed under rock and sand until it is tapped. Voss is close to empty of minerals, with a TDS around 40 and calcium under 5 mg/L, which is why it tastes so light. Buy it for the clean taste and the glass bottle, not for nutrition. The mildly acidic pH reflects the low mineral buffer and nothing more.
Saratoga
Spring-sourced in upstate New York since 1872, in the cobalt blue glass bottle. Its profile sits close to Voss: very low TDS, minimal calcium and magnesium, slightly below neutral pH. It is the most affordable American glass option in most stores, which makes it a reasonable default when Mountain Valley is unavailable or the budget is tight.
How to Verify This Yourself
Every brand in this article publishes its water quality report online, usually under a page titled Water Quality Report or Water Analysis. Search the brand name plus "water quality report" and download the PDF directly from the company domain. Check the report date, the testing laboratory, and whether heavy metals and nitrate are listed as ND rather than simply absent from the table. A parameter missing from a report was not necessarily tested.
One limitation deserves stating plainly. These reports are commissioned and published by the companies themselves, using contract laboratories, and no fully independent public dataset exists for most bottled water brands. The labs are certified and the FDA sets the testing framework, but the party paying for the test is the party selling the water. I treat these documents as the best available primary sources rather than independent verification, and I update this table when new reports contradict old ones. If a brand stops publishing its report, that is a signal on its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is spring water better than purified or distilled water?
Purified and distilled waters have had their minerals stripped out along with contaminants. Spring water from a protected source gives you clean water that still carries calcium and magnesium. If your diet is already mineral-rich, the difference is small. If you drink two or more liters a day, the minerals add up.
Which spring water has the most minerals?
Of the brands compared here, Evian carries the most at 345 mg/L TDS, including 80 mg/L calcium and 26 mg/L magnesium. Mountain Valley is the strongest American option at 220 mg/L TDS.
Is low pH water bad for you?
No. Voss tests around 5.9 and Saratoga around 6.5, and both are safe. The pH of bottled water reflects its dissolved mineral content, and your body regulates its own pH regardless of what you drink. Alkaline marketing claims are not supported by the physiology.
Do these waters contain PFAS or microplastics?
Acqua Panna is the only brand here that published a PFAS panel, which detected none. The others do not report PFAS. Choosing glass bottles removes the main microplastic exposure route, since shedding from plastic packaging is the dominant source in bottled water.
Why compare only glass-bottled waters?
Plastic bottles shed microplastic particles into the water they hold, and some leach plasticizers over time, especially in heat. Glass avoids both problems. Paying spring water prices for water stored in plastic undercuts the reason to buy it.
