1. Food Law

According to the Food Law, bottled drinking water is regarded as food, so like other food products, bottled drinking water needs to be safe for consumption, no matter what the pH values are.

In the US, bottled water is also regulated by FDA as food. Under the FFDCA (Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act), manufacturers are responsible for producing safe, wholesome and truthfully labeled food products, including bottled water products. FDA has established specific Standard of Quality for bottled water in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulation (21 CFR). The guideline has no pH limitations.

The link to the full version of the 21CFR:
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=165.110

2. WHO

According to the published WHO Drinking Water Guideline on page 409 indicated that:

[No health-based value is proposed for pH. Reason for not establishing a guideline value Not of health concern at levels found in drinking-water].

The link below is for the full version of the guideline by WHO:
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/44584/9789241548151_eng.pdf;jsessionid=8CDC0D07EF25B04CC9810495536CD1EF?sequence=1

Attachment (1). Page 409 WHO Drinking Water Guideline.

3. US - FDA

In addition, according to the official information from FDA government website, the FDA and EPA are both responsible for the safety of drinking water. EPA regulates public drinking water (tap water), while FDA regulated bottled drinking water.

The link below is the official FDA website:
https://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm046894.htm

Based on the 21CFR, FDA has no any pH limitations for bottled water although EPA recommended the pH value of 6.5-8.5 for tap water.

4. Japan’s Law and Regulation

Alkaline ionized water is regulated under bottled water standard and there are no pH value limitations. For details, please refer to the link of the website of Japan Law Translation.

The link below is the Japanese Law Translation website:
http://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/

5. Taiwan’s Law and Regulation (for reference)

In Taiwan, The Sanitation Standard For Bottled and Packaged Drinking Water has NO item of pH value and has no pH value limitation for bottled water.

Further, The Drinking Water Quality Standards has the limitation of pH 6.0~8.5, however, the drinking water (such as tap water) has through filter treated then after has NO any pH limitation. Such as water dispensers or water equipment installed and serving the drinking water to public at stations or airports, schools...etc.has NO any pH limitation.

According to The Tap Water Law, the pH limitation for tap water ranges of 6.0-8.5 and the reason for such limitation is because of the corrosive problem could possibly be found from the water pipes where the tap water travels and could cause tap water became acidifying due to water pipes could be rusting or contaminated which the tap water could affect to public’s health.

However, after the tap water is treated through filtrations or purification processes, Then the pH limitation is no longer applicable for this tap water.

The link below is the full version of the Taiwan’s Law and Regulation for drinking water:
http://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?PCode=O0040019

Attachment (2). Taiwan’s Law and Regulation regarding pH.

6. Alkaline Bottled Water products are being sold worldwide

As we knew, most of the countries around the world do not have pH limitation for bottled drinking water.

In fact, alkaline ionized water products are being sold worldwide from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, EU countries, Japan, Taiwan, China and Vietnam...etc.

Some examples are currently selling of alkaline water products include (Please refer to attachment 3 for product labels and descriptions):

1. Essentia from USA (pH 9.5)
2. Kirin Alkali Ion Water from Japan (pH 9.5)
3. Vietnam Ion Life (pH 9.5)
4. Taiwan Uni-President pH 9.0
5. Taiwan Salt (Taiyen) Alkaline Ion Water (pH 9.5)

Attachment (3). Pictures of Alkaline Water Products (pH 9.0-9.5) around the world.

7. Household Water Ionizers

Household water ionizers which produced electrolysis alkaline water with pH ranging from 8.0-9.8, have been sold throughout the world for more than 40 years.

The household water ionizers have been granted certification of medical devices by MOH Japan and South Korea. These household ionizers are also being sold in Dubai, UAE. The household water ionizers based on scientific and medical clinic experiments that alkaline water is effective to help improving abdominal problems.

Attachment (4). Certification from Japan MOH for Household Water Ionizers as Medical Devices (Japanese version).

Attachment (5). Certification from South Korea for Household Water Ionizers (Korean version).