Environ Earth Sci DOI 10.1007/s12665-010-0768-z
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BOOK REVIEW
Reviews on books, internet and scientific media
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Ó Springer-Verlag 2010
Reimann C and Birke M (eds): Geochemistry of European bottled water
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2010 | Borntraeger Science Publishers, Stuttgart | 268 pp. | 28 figs, 6 tables, 67 element maps | incl. CD-ROM with original data | Hardback EUR 78 | ISBN 978-3-443-01067-6
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Reviewed by Jo¨rg Matschullat
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Fig. 1 Book cover image reproduced courtesy of Borntraeger Science Publishers
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J. Matschullat (&) Interdisciplinary Environmental Research Center, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Brennhausgasse 14, 09599 Freiberg, Germany e-mail:
[email protected]
Countries of the European Union enjoy one of the best drinking water qualities on Earth with a rigorous and successful quality control of tap water from local and regional distribution systems. Yet, there is an increasing consumption of bottled water in Europe. People are obviously willing to pay a lot more than necessary for this commodity. Does bottled water deliver a better quality? Since this water has become an equivalent to drinking water for many people and is consumed regularly, it is well worth studying the chemical composition of these waters and examining beyond the standard suite of anions and cations often printed on bottle labels. This is but one aspect of the new geochemical atlas from EuroGeoSurveys (EGS) under the guidance of Clemens Reimann (Norwegian Geological Survey, NGU) and Manfred Birke (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, BGR, Fig. 1). In 2008, 1,785 different mineral water bottles were sampled in 40 European countries, from Iceland to Turkey and from Russia to the Canary Islands. Obviously the EGS are setting an advanced and broader precedent to include some countries into the European environment. These samples are being used for a very different and most exciting additional purpose. Since the source of these bottled waters is mostly groundwater, the obtained samples serve as a good proxy for assessing groundwater quality. This is a key hypothesis of the EGS-project.
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Fig. 2 Page 77 of Geochemistry of European bottled water is reproduced courtesy of Borntraeger Science Publishers
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This new geochemical atlas is an impressive piece of work (Fig. 2) reflecting the creativity of EGS and the authors, who substantially have contributed to a better
understanding of the geochemistry of Europe. At the same time, the book fills a serious gap in our knowledge and serves as a major source of information not only for
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drive a bias, e.g., between Western Europe versus Central and Eastern Europe. ‘‘The Hydrochemistry of Groundwater’’ (Chap. 2) discusses the influences of rainfall, vegetation, soil, and the various chemical reactions on the dispersion path from the vadose zone to the aquifer. Whether it is justified still to describe European rainfall as acidic due to contaminated rainfall, may be judged by the reader. Rainwater chemistry has largely recovered and hardly shows typical acidification patterns any longer—a clear success of European air quality control. The Durov diagram of all samples (Fig. 7) indicates only sodium on the axis, rather than Na ? K, and this may trigger misunderstanding for readers not familiar with this diagram. The third chapter delivers ‘‘Background Information’’ on the sampling area. Topography, geology, mineral deposits, hydrogeology, soil, climate, vegetation, land use and human activities are briefly introduced with a thematic map and a comprehensive text that includes further reading suggestions for more details. One could nicely declare this chapter as a short introduction to the European space. A minor shortcoming is the fact that the legends and related typefaces on maps are not homogeneous, and that not all maps are overprinted with political boundaries to orient oneself geographically when hopping between the maps. Also, the Caspian Sea is sometimes not visible, e.g., on the satellite image of Europe (Fig. 8), while other large limnic basins are depicted. Another open question relates to the annual average precipitation (Fig. 16), the population density (Fig. 18), and the human activities (Fig. 17) maps. On the first two, Turkey is missing, and on the latter, Iceland and large parts of Russia. These imperfections, however, do not disturb the generally very good and helpful impression of the chapter. Everyone with the slightest experience in water analysis knows about the challenges that start with sampling and sample materials, sample transport, storage and preparation prior to analysis. It is no surprise that the authors are fully aware of related pitfalls. They meticulously describe all ‘‘Methods’’ (Chap. 4), including the very tight quality control. All details on the entire process chain are given, including the instrument settings for the individual analysis, quality control used, international reference materials and in-house standards, sample blanks and minimal detection limits (reaction cell ICP-QMS), duplicate analyses, re-analysis of selected, and a comparison of obtained values for major components with the information provided on bottle labels. As a result, it is reassuring to know that label information could be in most cases fully confirmed. Bottle leaching can pose a serious problem, as was known in advance already from various publications. This work, however, provides to date the largest dataset and largest number of inorganic analytes. It also shows the significant difference between carbonated versus non carbonated waters, with a
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geoscientists and planners, but also for public health authorities. This very readable volume presents 67 hydrochemical maps that depict the respective analyte concentration with graduated dot symbols on a 1:40 Mio. map scale. The complex appendix, the original digital data and all relevant metadata are included on a CD-ROM, which permits every interested person to verify and work with the data (Excel files). In addition, 28 figures and photographs and six tables explain and well illustrate the general setting as well as specific topics (see below). It deems noteworthy to mention that colleagues from 40 European geological surveys and universities contributed to this work, often with great personal engagement that exceeded their common duties. The Secretary General of EGS, Luca Demicheli, the President of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hans-Joachim Ku¨mpel, and the Director of the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), Morten Smelror, all point out the logical consequence of this new atlas in continuation of the Geochemical Atlas of Europe series. That atlas and several more (including the new one on bottled water) are examples for low-density geochemical mapping. The related concept still provokes great discussion. Nevertheless, the approach is a most helpful tool to assess the truly representative situation of a larger region and cannot be compared with high-resolution sampling, and the related interpretation. It goes without saying that such a large-scale, low-resolution approach comes with a particular responsibility in data presentation and interpretation. Hence, expectations towards this new atlas are certainly high. The entire volume is organized into nine chapters. The ‘‘Introduction’’ (Chap. 1) outlines the concept of the project, defines ground and mineral waters, and goes into some detail on water sources and related influences on the respective water quality. It also points out rather diverse sources (aquifer depths, etc.) of commercially available bottled waters, including medicinal waters (sometimes sold in supermarkets!), and the various bottle materials. The authors are very much aware of the limitations of their findings, of their interpretation, and just as much, of the true opportunities arising from such a database. Thus, they justify their hypothesis to use the bottled waters as proxies for groundwater quality and later test this hypothesis thoroughly on various levels. They state the shortcomings, i.e. possible non-representativity of the data based on six arguments: (a) probable exclusion of point-source pollution, (b) possible water treatment prior to bottling, e.g., aeration and Fe and Mn felling, (c) artificial gasification and CO2 enrichment, (d) influence of the bottle material on the sample, (e) the general question of representativity for a 3-dimensional space as large as Europe, and (f) cultural preferences for certain tastes in bottled waters that may
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relative frequency distribution plot with a set of statistical core data (n, min, max, median, and percentiles) and the box plots. A second page for each analyte introduces the parameter and gives a most concise discussion of the obtained results. It goes without saying that this atlas cannot discuss these results in all detail, and the authors refer to parallel publications of individual papers in refereed journals where more information is given and shared. Nevertheless, these 134 pages of maps and comments provide a most helpful and well-selected reference that allows even educated lay people to quickly obtain key information for each of the analytes. The second last chapter ‘‘Health Implications’’ (Chap. 8) directly addresses not only public health authorities but also anyone else interested in current environmental legislation (threshold and maximum admissible values) with a concise overview of our knowledge on the selected analyte’s toxicities—and importantly, of problems arising from insufficient supply with related components. It also critically discusses toxicological evidence and rightfully points at both cultural but also political bias introduced in related threshold values and permissible limits. It finally points out that ever so often it is not inorganic compounds that compromise a decent drinking water quality but organic components, including microbial contamination that may seriously threaten safe potability. The final chapter concludes with the justified statement that the atlas can be used to obtain a first impression of the natural variation of elements in water at a European scale. It emphasizes once again—and importantly—that analyte concentrations generally vary by three to four orders of magnitude, sometimes up to seven. While this may not be a surprise really, it challenges per se the attempt to define thresholds and limit values without even knowing about natural variability and without assessing related processes and sources. It points out that several elements, for which no drinking water standards exist in Europe, show surprisingly high concentrations in bottled water, albeit not necessarily toxicologically relevant. On the other hand, the authors rightly point out that more attention should be given to both ends of the distribution function (‘‘deficiency as well as toxicity’’). These points are then further highlighted. A most helpful list of references and the already mentioned appendix rounds up this very well written and presented volume. High expectations are met (see above) on more than one level. The readability certainly deserves merit as do the magnificent illustrations and concise maps. The fact alone that this book is accompanied by its digital database makes it an invaluable source for a large number of people in academia and beyond. This atlas will likely find a very wide distribution not only in Europe but around the world and provide related data for study drinking water and groundwater studies, which are badly needed for sustainable development.
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clear tendency for carbonated drinks to show higher element concentrations (alkalinity, Pb, Sb and others). This difference appears greater than differences found between bottle types (glass vs. PET), although the work clearly shows how transparent PET bottles influence water samples considerably less than coloured PET. However, the bottom-line of all quality control delivers the message that ‘‘the majority of elements can be used to produce geochemical maps that are not seriously influenced from bottle materials’’. At the same time, these data unmistakably show whether waters have been treated prior to bottling or diluted (such as U-rich waters). A one-page chapter ‘‘Datasets’’ (Chap. 5) briefly explains the material provided on the CD-ROM, namely all bottled water, European tap water, and other data sets for comparison. Since the editors are aware of the ever increasing market for bottled water in Europe, and since no related data were (at least publicly) available, they also sampled tap waters from more than 500 sites across Europe, to compare their chemistry with that of the bottled waters. To further test the reliability and applicability of the obtained material, the surface water data/findings from the Geochemical Atlas of Europe and a groundwater dataset representative for Norway were included too. This is a most helpful service even for independent investigations by anyone interested— including student exercises at university level. Chapter 6 discusses a comparison between these four datasets, using cumulative probability plots (CPs) for each of the 67 analyzed components. Possibly the most stunning result of this exercise is the obvious fact ‘‘that with a few noteworthy exceptions the bottled water samples provide a surprisingly representative view of European water quality in terms of median values and variation’’. Seeing these data, I can only agree with this statement. The heart of the book certainly is the ‘‘Maps and their Interpretation’’ (Chap. 7). A short introduction repeats the key limitations that any reader needs to keep in mind: no usable Hg data (only two values above the limit of detection at 10 lg L-1), no NO2- data due to the obvious fact that no analysis was possible within 24 h after sampling, and no Sb data on maps since antimony leaches considerably from both PET and glass bottles. Still, values are given in the tables since the concentrations are those consumed. Finally, no Sc data, since a peak overlap occurs with Si when trying to detect the scandium mass by quadrupol ICP-mass spectrometry. The editors have dissected Europe into four quadrants, the data from each to be displayed separately in box and whisker plots on the result pages. This approach certainly will not answer all questions that readers may have, but give a rapid overview of more significant subcontinental differences—and motivate readers to use the original data for an even more detailed spatial analysis of data. Each results page shows the map, a CP-plot and a
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