Water is the most important necessity for life.

The drinking-water needs for ind ividuals vary depending on the climate, physical activity and the body culture. But for average consumers it is estimated to be about two to four litres per day . The growing number of cases of water borne diseases, increasing water pollutio n, increasing urbanization, increasing scarcity of pure and safe water etc. has made the bottled water business just like other consumer items. Scarcity of pota ble and wholesome water at railway stations, tourist s spots, and role of tourism co rp. etc. has also added to the growth. The Water shortage around the world and particularly in third world countries ha s opened new avenues for bottled water Industry. If we compare the growth and st atus of Indian Bottled Industry with western or Asian market, we are far behind in terms of quantum, infrastructure, professionalism & standards implementation. Millions of people, both in rural and urban India, suffer from inadequate or no tap water supply. Even some parts of Mumbai, the country's financial capital, g et a mere two hours of daily water supply. The city's Virar suburb gets 45 minut es. So bottled water is much in demand by residents - even though the businesses profiting from the sales are thriving from access to public water sources. Bottled water fills a void created by government failure to address basic servic es, Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute writes in its World Water report. "In many parts of the world, tap water is not available or safe to drink," writes . "In these regions, the failure of governments to provide basic water services has opened the door to private companies and vendors filling a critical need, al beit at a very high cost to consumers." The institute reasons that governments should tap into spending on commercial water by consumers to secure funds to pro vide safe water at fraction of the cost. Bottled water has been treated by distillation, reverse osmosis, or other suita ble process and that meets the definition of "purified water". The bottled wate r treatments include: * Distillation. In this process, water is turned into a vapor. Since minerals are too heavy to vaporize, they are left behind, and the vapors are condensed in to water again. * Reverse osmosis. Water is forced through membranes to remove minerals in th e water. * Absolute 1 micron filtration. Water flows through filters that remove part icles larger than one micron in size, such as "Cryptosporidium", a parasitic pro tozoan. * Ozonation. Bottlers of all types of waters typically use ozone gas, an ant imicrobial agent, to disinfect the water instead of chlorine, since chlorine can leave residual taste and odor to the water.