The Science
Water is the universal solvent. That means that water will, to some extent, dissolve some of almost anything with which it comes in contact. As it flows down streams, sits in lakes, or moves underground, it dissolves some of the minerals that it contacts. As we humans consume water from its various sources, we are exposed to the minerals and other materials that are dissolved in our water. This is the reality under which we have evolved as a species and this is the reality under which we still meet our hydration needs today. Probably because we have evolved under these conditions we have adapted or otherwise come to need and benefit from the consumption of certain of the minerals typically found in water.

Epidemiologists, medical scientists who look at the incidence, prevalence, and sources of disease in human populations, have conducted and published many studies in peer reviewed and respected medical and scientific journals related to drinking water. These studies have shown that certain minerals in drinking water are beneficial for human health. Equally important, the World Health Organization has published a paper based on similar research that concludes that ultra pure or demineralized water as a primary source of water is not beneficial. These data indicate that some mineral content in your drinking water is not only acceptable but is necessary for certain aspects of human health.

On the other hand, as a universal solvent, water also can pick up and contain materials that are not beneficial for human health or may even be negative for human health. In addition, based on natural and human activities, water is exposed to and polluted with many materials that are unhealthy or pathogenic (disease causing). In the developed world, governments or regulatory bodies have established standards for the maximum level of certain contaminates for waters used for drinking. These standards are based on studies of human health and, unfortunately, sometimes political considerations. In general, however, water meeting these regulatory guidelines is safe for long term human consumption.

Reglatory Process and the Dynamics of Treatment
The regulatory process is not static. Every day new contaminates are found in water at levels that were previously undetectable, or as pharmacology and industry adds new products, contaminates that did not exist last year. Regulatory agencies do their long term studies on human health and when enough data has been developed and reviewed and approved and when politics do not intervene, they issue new guidelines for water providers.

Municipal water suppliers treat large quantities of water every day, most of which is used for purposes other than human consumption. Municipal providers base their treatment processes on meeting regulatory criteria as a minimum, on the economics as established and negotiated by their tax or rate payers, and on the realities of employing large, complex distribution systems. This means that on the negative side, they generally do not apply the most advanced and expensive treatment technologies that produce ultra pure water because of the large quantities that must be treated for non-human consumption purposes. On the positive side, because of regulatory requirements municipal suppliers take many samples and perform many analyses each day for many of the regulated contaminates.

Bottled water suppliers have a different dynamic. Relatively speaking they produce and/or bottle smaller quantities of water of which the majority is consumed by humans. While the water costs significantly more on a per volume basis, the volume used is very small, only .5 to 3 gallons per day per person.

Based on the human consumption only-volume, levels of treatment can be high and state of the art.

Some bottled water providers apply this level of treatment and produce an ultra-pure water and place that in a bottle for consumption. This is not ideal. Long term consumption of de-mineralized water can have negative health consequences. Refer to this World Health Organization study to see the current conclusions on this subject. This paper also discusses the short term effects of drinking de-mineralized waters. Please read this and draw your own conclusion. Our conclusion is that ultra pure water may be good for industrial purposes such as printed circuit board manufacturing and others, but it is not good for humans.

What Makes Quintesse Unique
Quintesse actually does produce ultra pure water prior to our re-mineralization process. In fact, we employ processes and operate them at high levels of efficiency to remove minerals to very low levels. We remove all inorganic components to very low levels. We then go on to remove all organic components to very low levels. We provide several levels of treatment to remove bacteria and viruses to very low levels and then provide numerous steps of disinfection. So, Quintesse is treated to a level beyond ultra pure, but we are not yet finished. Despite what other bottled water companies think and do, we do not consider this very high quality water fit for human consumption. We would not drink it, and we do not think you should either.

To determine how to finish our water we have conducted a review of the scientific literature.

Based on a review of epidemiological literature, it is proven that calcium, magnesium and potassium in drinking water play an important role in positively impacting human health. A list of references can be seen here. Several of these papers can be found on the internet in either full form or in abstracts. The following links may be followed to see this information.

Calcium, magnesium and potassium can be put into water in any of several different forms. At Quintesse, we conclude that we get enough chloride, sulfate and sodium in our normal diet and do not need additional sources of these ions. There also does not appear to be any correlation among these ions and positive human health benefits when these ions are present in drinking water according to epidemiological studies that we have reviewed. Therefore, we put calcium, magnesium and potassium into our water in carbonate or hydroxide forms. These forms are not easy to dissolve into water, but they provide the benefit of creating the carbonate buffer system and slightly alkaline pH, that helps improve the taste of water and helps buffer stomach acids.

Quintesse is a very high purity water that is re-mineralized using USP and Food Grade minerals to obtain our desired water quality without undesirable contaminants.

We then take one more step for our peace of mind. We analyze every batch that we craft to prove to ourselves and to you, the consumer, that the water quality is what we want and what you want.

While large municipal supplies sample and analyze every day, they may only conduct extensive and complete analysis only every few days, once a month, once a quarter, or less frequently depending upon size of the system and their analytical budget. The FDA only requires detailed sampling once or twice a year. Quintesse samples every batch, meaning that we and you know what is in the bottle you are about to drink.