etting pure drinking water from municipal taps in cities and towns is now a luxury.

At home most people are forced to either boil water or install purifiers.While traveling or eating out in restaurants, buying bottled water has become an e c e s s i t y . T h i s n e e d h a s s e e n a n e x p l o s i o n o f c o m p a n i e s m a r k e t i n g s a f e drinking water in bottles across the country. Now around 100 companies sell an estimated 424 million liters of bottled water valued at around Rs. 200 crore in the country annually.The tradition of bottled water and mineral water is not very old. Even in westerncountries the practice of bottled drinking water started in 1950s. The trend of having mineral water gained grounds in the market.Since ancient time people have used water from mineral springs, especially hots p r i n g s , f o r b a t h i n g d u e t o i t s s u p p o s e d t h e r a p e u t i c v a l u e f o r r h e u m a t i s m , a r t h r i t i s , s k i n d i s e a s e s , a n d v a r i o u s o t h e r a i l m e n t s . D e p e n d i n g o n t h e temperature of the water, the location, the altitude, and the climate at the spring,it can be used to cure different ailments. This started the trend of using mineralwat er for drinking purpose to exploit the therapeutic value of the water. This trend started gaining momentum in mid 1970s and since then large quantities of 1