The combination of climate change and environmental pollution has impacted the quality and quantity of drinking water available from conventional freshwater sources. In response to dwindling potable water resources, a growing number of alternative water sources have now emerged from technologies that were introduced or vastly improved (in terms of production capacity or energy efficiency) over the last two decades. These technologies include desalinated ocean or brackish waters, condensed atmospheric water and captured cloud/fog water, all of which produce waters that often lack the minerals and other natural properties of ground and surface waters. Hence, these alternative waters are increasingly amended with salts or liquid mineral solutions, adjusted for pH and ORP, and treated in other ways to improve taste or enhance human health.

A review of the ways in which alternative waters are amended or altered suggests that some are better researched or more effective than others. For example, trace minerals (e.g., iodine, selenium) are overwhelmingly provided by food and not water, whereas water can serve as a supplemental source of major minerals (e.g., calcium, magnesium). ORP and pH adjustments not only address taste, but also reportedly enhance specific health parameters (e.g., hydration, immunity, antioxidant activity), some of which are controversial. Adding salts, gases or organics to water and treating water with various energies (e.g., thermal, electromagnetic) are discussed from the standpoint of their proposed mechanisms and potential benefits. Recent insights into the physics and chemistry of water, combined with an improved understanding of the factors that influence human taste and health, provide a framework for both evaluating and designing enhancements to alternative waters.