Mineral Water vs Packaged Drinking Water
As you might be aware that Bottled Water Plants in India are either Packaged Natural Mineral Water Plants or Packaged Drinking Water Plants. These names are defined by the B.I.S. [The Bureau of Indian Standards], which is the govt body in India to monitor the quality of the Drinking Water sold in Bottles in India. There are quality standards defined by the B.I.S. and these standards are also numbered. The Packaged Natural Mineral Water bears IS 13428 and Packaged Drinking Water bears IS 14543 as their standard numbers.In India, you find Packaged Natural Mineral Water 22 plants as on date. And the remaining (5500 +) are “Packaged Drinking Water Plants”
The Principle Difference
In principle, the difference is in the quality of the raw water. If the raw water has the same qualities defined by the B.I.S. as the Packaged Natural Mineral Water, then it will be Packaged Natural Mineral Water IS-13428, otherwise, needs to be treated using the R.O. Technology (Reverse Osmosis) to purify the Raw Water & produce the final drinking water the Packaged Drinking Water IS-14543. During this process it rejects certain amount of water. Effectively,there is a difference between the Raw Water Extracted from ground and the Pure Water Produced. Hence, the calculation of Raw Water for Mineral Water Plant becomes a fundamentally important thing here.
Before going further, a quick explanation of the rejects
The rejects are the impurities filtered out from the plant, in form of Reject Water. The reject water can be used for gardening, sanitation etc.
How much is the difference ?
The difference depends upon the quality of the Raw water for mineral water plant. More precisely : How much impurity the raw water contains. To know the impurity of Raw Water, it needs to get tested from a laboratory. Once the report is available, we can know how much water can be used & how much will be thrown out. The difference depends upon the Raw Water Report. (Actually you just require a simple TDS meter to know how much water you can use & how much to reject.)
Is it necessary to know this ?
Yes. It is necessary for you to understand this thoroughly. As Business Owner, it is not expected from you that you should know the operational details. You are expected to hire proper, able persons on this job. Still, you should know why you need them & the basics of Raw Water to Pure Water.
Another reason why you need to know this is : You should be able to specify the exact Water Treatment Plant Capacity for your Mineral Water Plant. Usually, these water treatment systems are specified in terms of LPH (Ltrs Per Hour). Once you are aware of how much water you are going to produce daily, it’s very easy to calculate the hourly requirement.
Give Exact Specifications for Water Treatment Plant & Other Machines too !
Once you know your own exact requirement, you can specify to suppliers correctly and hence you are likely to get more correct quotes from suppliers from websites like Indiamart, TradeIndia, Alibaba, etc. Define your search properly, compare various suppliers & get your best offer from them. Define your filters properly & call exact suppliers, compare them.
How to Appoint the best supplier ?
This is very relevant, but go with the experienced in the field. Usually , people don’t do proper pre research & we have observed after doing over 150 installations that those who fail, do not get proper information. We have designed our Live Training syllabus to keep your mistakes to minimum. The intro session itself starts with this. Here’s a screenshot of the session’s main topics :-
A Business Owner should be ready for all situations !
The Groundwater quantity may go down with changing seasons; hence it’s better to know & be prepared as a business owner in advance as to how much is he going to need so he can fill up the gaps between demand & supply.
It will be also useful to calculate the size, capacity of the borewell as well, if you are buying new piece of land for your project.
Types of Raw Water for a Mineral Water Plant
Water is the basic resource. One can use Borewell Water, Municipal Water for their Mineral Water Plant. The Open Well also can be used as water source, but River Water Can’t be used as Raw Water Source as per the laws from the B.I.S. (Bureau of Indian Standards and P.C.B. (Pollution Control Board)
Why River Water is Not Allowed ?
River Water can get easily contaminated , hence it is not allowed. Borewell, on the contrary is the best source as the source is well protected within the soil itself. Talking about Open Well; it should be covered well & you will need to submit reports to B.I.S. from time to time.
Can We Use the Groundwater Directly ?
No. You have to treat the water to the desired level of purity before Bottling. For this, a separate Water Treatment Section needs to be established within your Mineral Water Plant. We shall cover this in the Mineral Water Plant and Machinery. But for water, the impurity is in form of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids). They are removed from the Raw Water and this TDS containing water is rejected. The amount of water which is useful & rejected can be calculated.
Initially you do not need a Water Test Report
Usually, the mineral water plant suppliers will demand a Water Test Report of the Raw Water before giving you the quote. In a way, they are right. Then, you typically approach to an ISI approved lab or a local water testing lab with your raw water sample, which offers you a detailed Water Test Report, with all BIS specified parameters. No problem if you get that, but at this stage, when you have not even decided anything, it’s pointless to get this detailed report. At this stage, you require mainly 2 things :-
- How Much Raw Water Is Available to You
- How Much Pure Water You can get from the Raw Water
If you know just these 2 things, you can design your whole plant. Otherwise, if you go to any BIS approved lab, you will end up spending a huge amount, which is not needed at this moment. And even if you do this, you will again need to carry out tests once you are through with your finance & Green signal from all authorities, it is a BIS necessary thing. Just look at the following image to know how much the BIS approved labs charge for the tests.
As discussed, you don’t need this. You can arrive at your desired results in just 10-15% cost of the above charges mentioned. During our Training or in the Home Study Course, we train you on this aspect.
Get Your Water Sample Ready
If you have your Raw Water Source ready; just take out 1 Ltr from that & test it. Alternatively, if you want some better accurate results,t here are plenty of Testing labs located everywhere, but it is better to get it tested from a Water Treatment specialist. We too offer this service , in which we get the water tested & we also suggest you the treatment for the same. Please contact us if you are looking for the same.
Water is also a cost for your plant. Now, it’s going to be chargeable. Tomorrow surely, if not now. We do consider it as a cost component. And there are certain other cost components too, besides this. You can read a detailed post about the various Mineral Water Plant Cost Components in this article.
If you attend our Live Training or buy the Home Study Course, you can also do it yourself (Calculation of all relevant costs); we teach you a secret simple method by which you can also know the Quality of the Raw Water as well as whether the Quantity available is sufficient or not.
We have trained over 1000 Aspiring entrepreneurs from 2015. Many of our students are finding our training very useful. You can check reviews from our attendees.