Significant indicators of water quality 



Water which is mixed with flavoring materials 

 to produce the final product must be potable. Like- 

 wise, potable water is needed for washing fillers, 

 syrup lines, and other product handling equip- 

 ment. The water used for washing product con- 

 tainers must also be potable. 



Although other water uses do not require po- 

 tability, it has not been customary to use non- 

 potable water for any purpose in a soft drink plant. 



The water which becomes a part of the final 

 product must not only be potable, but must also 

 contain no substances which will alter the taste, 

 appearance, or shelf life of the beverage. Because 

 beverages are made from many different syrup 

 bases, the concentration and type of substances 

 which affect taste, or other characteristics, are not 

 the same for all beverages. For this reason a single 

 standard cannot apply to all types of soft drinks. 

 This is the conclusion reached by the water treat- 

 ing committee of the Society of Soft Drink Tech- 

 nologists after conducting a survey of the water 

 composition required by the various franchise 

 companies. 



The majority of plants use only water from a 

 public supply. Some use water from private wells. 

 None use water directly from surface sources. 

 Hence, the quality characteristics for intake water 

 are the same as quality requirements for potable 

 water. 



Uniformity of water composition is most de- 

 sirable. Control of in-plant processing is difficult 

 when the composition of the water varies from 

 day to day. Surface waters which are subject to 

 heavy biological growths or heavy pollution with 

 organic chemicals are also difficult to process. 



Except for process water, most public water 

 supplies are suitable without external treatment 

 for all other usages. Occasionally, cation exchang- 

 ers are used to soften bottle washing, cooling, and 

 boiler feed water, but internal conditioning is used 

 in most plants for scale and corrosion control. 



Water treatment processes involved 



There are few, if any, public water supplies 

 which are suitable as product water without any 

 in-plant processing whatsoever. Almost 100 per- 

 cent of the bottling plants have a sand filter and an 

 activated carbon purifier. About 80 percent of the 

 plants also coagulate and super-chlorinate the 

 water preceding sand filtration and carbon purifi- 

 cation. When the total alkalinity of the intake water 

 is too high, lime is used to precipitate the alkaline 

 salts. 



There are very few bottling plants whose intake 

 water is so highly mineralized that the brackish 

 taste affects soft drinks. This is due to several 

 facts: flavoring components in soft drinks mask 

 the taste of salts so that many waters which taste 

 brackish do not alter the taste of soft drinks; towns 

 with highly mineralized water supplies are avoided 

 as locations for bottling plants or suitable private 

 supplies are used. 



TABLE V-20. Quality Requirements of Water at 



Point of Use by the Soft Drink Industry 



(SIC 2086) 



[Unless otherwise indicated, units are mg/l and values that 



normally should not be exceeded. Quality of water prior to the 



addition of substances used for interna! conditioning.] 



Characteristic 



Alkalinity (CaCOs) 85 



pH, units C) 



Hardness 



(CaCO,,) O 



Chlorides (CI) 500 = 



Sulfates (SO.) 500 = 



Iron (Fe) 0.3 



Manganese (Mn). 0.05 



Characteristic 



Fluoride (F) C) 



Total dissolved 



solids C) 



Organics, CCE — 0.2' 



Conform bacteria- C) 



Color, units 10' 



Taste C- =) 



Odor C' =) 



1 Controlled by treatment for other constituents. 



- If present with equivalent quantities of Mg and Ca as sul- 

 fates and chlorides, the permissible limit may be somewhat 

 below 500 mg/l. 



■' Not greater than USPHS Drinking Water Standards. 



■' In general, public water supplies are coagulated, chlori- 

 nated, and filtered through sand and granular activated carbon 

 to insure very low organic content and freedom from taste and 

 odor. 



^Zero, not detectable by test. 



NOTE. — Application of the above values should be based on 

 Part 23, ASTM book of standprds (1), or APHA Standard 

 methods for the examination of water and wastewater (5). 



212 



