Malvern Spa Association looks at common spring water query

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy ‘yes or no’ answer to that as it depends on different factors — most importantly what is in the water.

However, the health benefits of drinking pure spring water are becoming more widely-known (or ‘rediscovered’) and, whether long-term residents, recent arrivals or visitors, more people are realising the importance and value of Malvern’s springs and want to drink the water on a regular basis.

So in this article we’ll explain what you need to know.

Firstly, Malvern spring water is famous for containing “nothing at all” as proclaimed by Worcester physician Dr John Wall when he tested it in 1756.

However, the purity of the water varies from place to place so Malvern water can’t really be ‘standardised’.

In fact, the spring water comes from rain which falls on the Malvern Hills and collects in cracks and fissures deep inside the rock.

Where the rock is hard granite, few associated particles enter the water although even where springs rise in limestone the water has a low mineral content.

We must also consider ‘total dissolved solids’ (TDS) which are inorganic salts and small amounts of organic matter present in water and can affect its taste and potentially human health.

TDS in water supplies originate from natural sources as well as sewage, urban/agricultural run-off, industrial wastewater and salt used for road de-icing.

In addition, we must factor in bacteria, for example E coli which can cause intestinal infection.

Where spring water is available for public collection, it’s tested in a laboratory by regulatory services — here, twice a year — which identifies whether the above and other ingredients are present.

If ‘safe’ limits are exceeded, usually the landowner is informed and signs are put in place, either saying people should boil the water before drinking or simply that the water has not met ‘current drinking water standards’ so one drinks at one’s own risk.

Our chairman Dr John Harcup used to say that the water always used to pass tests and, as far as he knew, no one had even fallen ill, let alone died from drinking it, but the standards are now so high that even that smallest trace of matter, such as rabbit poo, means failure.

He also said that, in his opinion, drinking uncontaminated ‘raw’ water builds up the body’s immune system.

Here the most popular public ‘raw’ spring water collection points are Hayslad Spout on the West Malvern Road and Evendine Spring at the top of Evendine Lane, off Jubilee Drive, although both have collection tanks and pipes.

We are very lucky that the Malvern Hills enjoy statutory protection and are a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Sensitive management, and most roads and houses being on the lower slopes, means fewer sources of pollution although cattle-grazing may be a cause of recent test failures at Evendine.

However, when the hills catch fire, sometimes chemical foam is used in which case it’s not safe to drink the water for weeks.

Also many spring water tanks and pipes installed in Victorian times are corroded or broken but too costly to fix so the number of public collection sites has dwindled — only where people have a legal right to collect water, for example at Hayslad under the 1905 Malvern Water Act, is there a duty to ensure the system is maintained.

Interestingly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that the maximum ‘acceptable’ level of TDS in drinking water is c 1,000 mg/litre.

Our citizen science project involves testing TDS levels at certain springs and from other sources.

In Malvern tap water has ranged from 750mg/litre to 350.

At Evendine levels are usually around 150 and at Hayslad 90.

The WHO concludes that high levels of TDS may be harmful to health but low concentrations may have beneficial effects.

Another popular collection point is Malvhina Spout on Belle Vue Island, created in 1998, and fed from spring water flowing through a pipe under the A449.

For health and safety reasons, an ultra-violet (UV) filter was installed which avoids contamination from harmful micro-organisms.

In theory, it’s perfectly safe to drink commercially-bottled Malvern spring water as it must pass very stringent tests.

In future, we hope that Malvern spring water will be bottled more widely and that more publicly-accessible collection points will be made available.

Another question we’re often asked is what is the best way to store spring water?

We’re researching and doing tests on that as well and will let you know the results in a future article.

Our columnist Carly Tinkler is the president of the MSA.