Chemical composition of Zamzam water: A comparative study with international standards of drinking water

Abstract Studies conducted on the chemical composition of Zamzam water are conflicting especially for arsenic. Therefore, the aim of our study is to study the composition of tap and bottled Zamzam water and to compare its quality according to international guidelines of drinking water. Six Zamzam tap water samples as well as one bottled sample were analyzed according to standard methods (APHA) for their chemical constituents (pH, TDS, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Mn, Al, As, Cl−, SO4−2, HCO3- and PO4−3). The results were compared to guidelines of WHO and EPA for quality of drinking water. All analyzed parameters were below the maximum allowable limits (MAL) of WHO and EPA (p˃0.05), with the exception of TDS. The average values of TDS (814 mg L−1 in tap zamzam water samples and 812 mg L−1 in bottled sample) were below the MAL of WHO (1000 mg L−1) but exceeded the limit that defined by EPA as a non-enforceable guidelines (500 mg L−1) (p˂0.05). Compared to the collected tap zamzam water samples, bottled sample had significantly lower levels of Na, PO4−3 (p˂0.05) and Cu (p˂0.01). The study concluded that Zamzam water has acceptable chemical composition including arsenic, except for TDS that exceeds the high non-enforceable accepted limit according to EPA.