With regular hydration being one of the key tenets of optimal health and wellbeing, global spa and wellness destinations have begun partnering with Hallstein Artesian Water to quench guests' thirst without the risk of inflammation.

A supplier for Clinique La Prairie, the family-owned company bottles and sells water sourced from an artesian aquifer located 700ft below ground in the Dachstein region in Austria.

The water is claimed to have high levels of dissolved oxygen, natural pH and mineral content. Unlike most commercially available water products on the market, Hallstein does not add sodium to its water – a mineral linked to inflammation.

With the strapline “perfected by nature”, Hallstein water is not pumped, filtered or treated, either chemically or mechanically.

“Hallstein is the purest water available on the market so naturally, it has huge appeal in the spa and wellness space,” said managing director and partner, Elisabeth Muhr, speaking exclusively to Spa Business.

The journey

Muhr explained that the inspiration for the product came after her husband, Austro-American entrepreneur Karlheinz Muhr, returned from a retreat in 1999.

During the experience, he learnt how inflammation can negatively impact health and longevity and that many popular bottled drinks and waters are topped up with sodium. Sodium effectively impacts water's pH levels making it a commonly used cheap additive for water companies to boost pH.

Soon after, Karlheinz, Elisabeth and their three children stopped drinking sugary drinks and sodas and began their search for the ‘ideal water’ and how to establish what parameters would be required for their ultimate water quality.

After establishing their eight categories with the help of a team of scientists and water specialists, the Muhr family tested and drank almost every commercially available water and found that nearly every one had been treated in some way.

Thanks to the help of hydrogeologists, they then launched a global search to find somewhere in which naturally pure water – corresponding to their eight factors – could be formed.In 2016, the Muhr family found what they were looking for in the Austrian community of Obertraun, in Dachstein.