Nutrients in Drinking Water

The World Health Organization assembled a diverse group of nutrition, medical and scientific experts in Rome in November 2003, at the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, to address a number of questions relating to the nutrient composition of drinking water and the possibility that drinking water could in some circumstances contribute to total dietary nutrition. The original impetus of the meeting was as a contribution to development of Guidance on health and environmental aspects of desalination that was initiated by the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, and intended ultimately to contribute to the development of the 4th edition of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality (GDWQ). There were 18 invited
experts from Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Moldova, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States of America. Additional papers were provided by invitees who could not attend. The task was to examine the potential health consequences of longterm consumption of water that had been ‘manufactured’ or ‘modified’ to add or delete minerals. In particular, the meeting originated from the question of the consequences of the long-term
consumption of waters that had been produced from demineralization processes like desalination of seawater and brackish water as well as possibly some membrane treated fresh waters, and their optimal reconstitution from the health perspective