LAUSR

Abstract Bulgaria is one of the countries in the world richest in mineral waters of natural origin, unique composition and drinking qualities. According to the National Register of the Ministry of Health (2019) 22 companies bottle natural mineral waters in Bulgaria. Although the quality of drinking water depends to a large extent on its microelement composition, only limited data are available about trace element content in Bulgarian bottled mineral waters. In this study, 17 Bulgarian and eight imported mineral water brands purchased from commercial Bulgarian network have been studied. Using ICP-MS, a simultaneous determination of macro- and microcomponents in bottled mineral waters has been performed. The water samples were analyzed for 69 chemical elements, most of which are not considered by Bulgarian and/or European legislation with no data available so far. Multivariate statistical analysis (cluster and discriminant) grouped the water samples according to their type in three clusters HCO3-Ca-Mg-SO4 type; HCO3-Na type; HCO3-Na-SO4 and HCO3- Na-Si-SO4 types and an outlier is HCO3-Na-Ca-Si type with CO2. Concentration cadasters were used to present the element distribution of the studied Bulgarian brands, which allows easy comparison among the studied waters.