Mineral water, also called aerated water, is spring water that has a high content of mineral matter or of gas. (The term aerated means charged with gas.) The mineral matter includes salt, Epsom salt, lime, magnesia, iron, silica, boron, fluorine, and many others, including radioactive substances. The most common gases that are in mineral water are carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.
In most cases, the water is rain water that has seeped underground through rocks, dissolving mineral matter on the way. Other springs may contain magmatic or juvenile water, which rises from deep in the earth after forming through a chemical process in rocks. Some of these springs are hot springs. Others have cooled to ordinary temperatures.
People have used mineral water since ancient times to cure such ailments as rheumatism, skin infections, and poor digestion. The temperature of the water, the location, the altitude, and the climate at the springs are all considered in the treatment.
There are thousands of mineral springs in North America. About 800 have at one time had spas (resorts) where people used to come for the waters. Most of them are in the East and Midwest. Their popularity has declined since the early 1900’s, and many have shut down. The best-known mineral springs today are at Saratoga Springs, New York; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and French Lick, Indiana. Hot Springs has been made a national park (see Hot Springs National Park ).
The waters from some foreign springs are imported to the United States. Among these waters are the Apollinaris from Germany, Hunyadi-Janos from Hungary, and Vichy from France. Water taken from mineral springs is sold in sterilized bottles.
