Spring Water vs Purified Water

[JLC]

Hey gang...

Got a weird question for y'all. Does "purified water" = "spring water"? My son is working on a science project involving a worm called Planeria. The care instructions say to keep them in "spring water" or "fresh pond water." Well, I don't have access to a pond. And the different labels of bottled water I have all say "purified" rather than "spring". Do you think that would be OK? I can understand the reason to avoid tap water...chlorine and all that. But, so far as I can tell, none of that is a problem in the purified bottles.

[mainbutter]

purified water is not the same as spring water. Spring water, harvested from springs, contains minerals and such.

Purified water is usually created via distillation or reverse osmosis, the goal is to make pure H2O.

My guess is that the worms benefit a bit from having water that contains some of the minerals and such you find in streams and ponds.

[Spaniard]

Poland Spring water is supposedly from springs according to the website...
http://www.polandspring.com/KnowH2O/Default.aspx

[JLC]

Thanks, guys!

I went ahead and got off my lazy behind and went to the store for some spring water. Get home...take the jar of worms out of the packaging to transfer them to the fresh water....and see that they sent me TINY worms. And only maybe a dozen or so. (When I need a minimum of 30) Not sure how this is going to all play out, now. But at least we've gotten an early start...so if I have to order more (or heaven forbid, grow my own)...hopefully we'll have time. I'm just a wee bit peeved now, though...because with the shipping and all, these things were relatively expensive, and I didn't get a fraction of what I'd expected to get.