There are no fixed health guidelines for the amount of potassium present in water that
would be considered safe by the WHO. Drinking water is not the major dietary source of
potassium, and the concentration in water seldom reaches 10 mg/l (McCarron no date).
However USEPA has set a maximum level of 100 mg/l.
In people on low potassium diets, strokes, high blood pressure, and diabetes occur more
frequently than in those who consume sufficient or high potassium diets. Low potassium may
impair glucose metabolism and lead to elevated blood sugar. Research has found that a highsodium
diet with low potassium intake influences vascular volume and tends to elevate the
blood pressure (McCarron).
About 58% of the samples analyzed had sodium content more than the WHO’s limit of
20 mg/l and all the samples contained potassium much less than the USEPA’s upper limit of
100 mg/l .
The potassium content in all the 17 bottled drinking water samples analyzed ranged from
0.3 – 10 mg/l. Since getting adequate potassium in the diet is hampered by the relatively few
good sources of potassium and further by their limited consumption, potassium in the water
represents a potentially significant benefit to the majority of humans (Canadian Water Quality
Guidelines 1987). Considering this view, brands containing no or very low potassium are
also not beneficial for human health. Out of 17 bottled water samples, 15 samples had
potassium content less than 5.0 mg/l and out of these, two samples had potassium even less