A global water archive

Vatten

Tap water from world cities. Every compound measured. Engraved on glass.

Touch to disturb · tilt to slosh · sound makes waves

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Sweden · 1252

Stockholm

A

Clean. Quietly mineral. The granite archipelago in a glass.

6.4°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

0.00088

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

France · 250 BC

Paris

C

Heavy. Limestone. The Champagne aquifer translated into sensation.

16.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

8.4

PFAS ng/L

74

compounds tracked

View edition →

United Kingdom · 43 AD

London

C

Heavy. Chalky. The Thames translated into mineral.

21.2°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

9.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Japan · 1457

Tokyo

A

Pure. Neutral. The absence of mineral as its own sensation.

2.3°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

0.88

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

United States · 1624

New York

B

Clean. Soft. Quietly the best urban tap water in America.

2.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

1.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Germany · 1237

Berlin

B

Hard, clean, mineral. The Brandenburg plain in a glass.

14.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

1.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Spain · 859 AD

Madrid

B

Soft. Mountain-clean. Granite simplicity.

4.1°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

0.81

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Italy · 753 BC

Rome

C

Very hard. Volcanic mineral. Roman water has always tasted this way.

34.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

1.1

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Greece · 3000 BC

Athens

B

Balanced. Mediterranean limestone. Clean and quietly mineral.

8.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

0.68

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Portugal · 1200 BC

Lisbon

B

Soft. Atlantic. The Castelo do Bode in a glass.

5.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

0.61

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Netherlands · 1275

Amsterdam

B

Remarkably soft. The Rhine filtered by sixty days and sixty metres of coastal dune.

7.8°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

8.9

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Austria · 1137

Vienna

A

The Alps in a glass. 180 kilometres of granite and time.

8.4°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

0.00088

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Denmark · 1167

Copenhagen

B

Hard chalk. Mineral weight. The taste of an aquifer.

18.2°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

1.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Singapore · 1819

Singapore

A

The most engineered water in the world. And it tastes like it.

1.8°dH

Hardness

2

Drug traces

0.048

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Australia · 1788

Sydney

B

Soft and clean, with an undercurrent of chloramine.

2.9°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

14.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Canada · 1793

Toronto

B

Great Lakes water. Fluoridated since 1963. Fentanyl-era traces.

7.1°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

2.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Belgium · 979

Brussels

C

Hard. Heavy. The Ardennes in every glass.

16.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

12.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Switzerland · 929

Zurich

A

Alpine limestone and lake purity. Switzerland takes no shortcuts.

14.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

0.088

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Norway · 1000

Oslo

A

Nordic granite. A Norwegian mountain lake, perfectly still.

5.8°dH

Hardness

9

Drug traces

0.0088

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Finland · 1550

Helsinki

A

120 kilometres of Precambrian granite. The world's longest water commute.

3.8°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

0.018

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Germany · 1158

Munich

B

Hard Alpine limestone and the secret of Bavarian lager.

15.8°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

0.0048

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Spain · 10 BCE

Barcelona

C

Hard Mediterranean limestone. The water Barcelonins refuse to drink.

18.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

5.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Ireland · 841

Dublin

C

Fluoridated peat water. The last EU capital that still adds what Europe removed.

9.2°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

1.1

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Iceland · 874

Reykjavik

A

Lava and glacier. The cleanest tap water on earth.

1.2°dH

Hardness

5

Drug traces

0.00088

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Czech Republic · 880

Prague

B

Bohemian rock and the city that invented meth.

7.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

0.88

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Poland · 1300

Warsaw

B

Vistula water. Survived two world wars, still running.

11.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

1.4

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Switzerland · 58 BCE

Geneva

A

The lake where diplomats drink. Alpine limestone at its most balanced.

14.8°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

0.068

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

France · 43 BCE

Lyon

B

The confluence of two rivers and two Alpine catchments.

12.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

2.1

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Italy · 222 BCE

Milan

C

Soft Alpine groundwater, stained by the industrial valley it crosses.

8.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

9.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Portugal · 300 BCE

Porto

B

Atlantic granite softness. The water that shaped Vinho Verde.

4.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

0.48

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

South Korea · 18 BCE

Seoul

B

The Han River miracle, bottled. Arisu — Korea's answer to a nation that stopped trusting its tap.

8.8°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

1.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

United States · 1833

Chicago

B

Great Lakes clarity with a century of industrial shadow.

7.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

1.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Canada · 1886

Vancouver

A

Mountain rain through granite. Impossibly light.

2.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

0.28

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

United States · 1776

San Francisco

A

Yosemite granite. A 160-mile journey to your tap.

3.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

0.88

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

China (SAR) · 1842

Hong Kong

B

Borrowed water, extraordinary infrastructure. The city that has no choice but to excel.

6.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

2.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Japan · 645

Osaka

B

Lake Biwa, four million years old, filtered by Osaka's obsession with flavour.

7.2°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

1.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

New Zealand · 1840

Auckland

B

Volcanic island water. Tāmaki Makaurau, the isthmus desired by many.

5.8°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

0.58

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Australia · 1835

Melbourne

A

The world's most protected urban catchment. Melbourne's water is soft enough to taste its own absence.

2.8°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

0.38

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

UAE · 1833

Dubai

D

Mineral-forward. The sea remembered, then forgotten.

8.2°dH

Hardness

0

Drug traces

9.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

India · 1661

Mumbai

C

Monsoon soft. Pharmaceutical undertow.

3.4°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

3.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

India · 1052

Delhi

D

Alluvial weight. The Yamuna's long journey.

5.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

18.4

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

China · 1045 BCE

Beijing

C

Hard and mineral. Water with imperial weight.

8.8°dH

Hardness

0

Drug traces

5.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Brazil · 1554

São Paulo

C

Rain-soft and plateau-clean. The city that almost ran dry.

1.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

2.8

PFAS ng/L

72

compounds tracked

View edition →

Mexico · 1325

Mexico City

D

Volcanic calcium. An ancient lake remembered.

7.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

5.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Turkey · 667 BCE

Istanbul

C

Limestone medium. Two continents in one glass.

5.8°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

1.4

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Egypt · 969 CE

Cairo

D

Nile mineral. Five thousand years of civilization dissolved.

6.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

6.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

South Africa · 1652

Cape Town

B

Mountain soft. The Fynbos biome in a glass.

2.1°dH

Hardness

8

Drug traces

0.148

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Nigeria · 1472

Lagos

F

Tropical soft. The Lagos Lagoon carries everything.

2.8°dH

Hardness

9

Drug traces

2.4

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Thailand · 1782

Bangkok

C

Tropical medium. The river that keeps rising.

4.4°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

2.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Argentina · 1536

Buenos Aires

C

Pampas soft. Fluoridated for the future.

3.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

2.8

PFAS ng/L

72

compounds tracked

View edition →

Taiwan · 1709

Taipei

A

Mountain crystal. Asia's finest tap water.

1.4°dH

Hardness

1

Drug traces

0.082

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Israel · 1909

Tel Aviv

A

Engineered Mediterranean. The sea remade as drinking water.

6.4°dH

Hardness

8

Drug traces

0.052

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Indonesia · 397 CE

Jakarta

F

Industrial river. A city that drinks bottled water.

5.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

18.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Kenya · 1899

Nairobi

D

Rift Valley volcanic. Medium-bodied highland water.

4.2°dH

Hardness

7

Drug traces

0.52

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Colombia · 1538

Bogotá

B

Páramo water. The most mineral-free in this collection.

1.2°dH

Hardness

9

Drug traces

0.038

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Chile · 1541

Santiago

B

Andean snowmelt. One of South America's finest tap waters.

1.6°dH

Hardness

9

Drug traces

0.088

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Qatar · 1820

Doha

C

The Gulf, purified. Water with the weight of its origin.

9.6°dH

Hardness

0

Drug traces

6.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Malaysia · 1857

Kuala Lumpur

C

Tropical granite soft. Rain season in a glass.

2.6°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

1.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

United States · 1781

Los Angeles

C

Hard, warm, mineral. A desert river in a glass.

14.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

18

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

United States · 1896

Miami

C

Limestone dissolved in warmth. The aquifer in a glass.

16.1°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

11

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Canada · 1642

Montréal

B

Soft, clean, cold. The Canadian Shield in liquid form.

6.2°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

2.9

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Hungary · 1873

Budapest

B

Hard water from limestone hills. The bath city in a glass.

16.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

6.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Romania · 1459

Bucharest

C

The Wallachian plain in solution. Honest river water, chlorine and all.

12.4°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

14.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Scotland · 1124

Edinburgh

A

The water that makes whisky. Ultrasoft, clean, cold from the moor.

2.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

1.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Italy · 59 BC

Florence

B

Limestone Tuscany in solution. Renaissance water with a hard edge.

19.2°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

8.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Russia · 1147

Moscow

C

Twelve million people in solution. The megacity taste.

9.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

12.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Russia · 1703

St. Petersburg

B

Europe's greatest lake, carried to your glass through a century of iron pipes.

3.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

11

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Estonia · 1219

Tallinn

B

The Baltic's best-kept secret: excellent water from a medieval city that joined the EU and never looked back.

8.2°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

1.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Latvia · 1201

Riga

B

The Daugava runs through 8 centuries of amber trade and into your glass.

7.1°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

6.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Serbia · 279 BC

Belgrade

C

The Sava meets the Danube in your glass: hard, ancient, full of life.

14.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

18

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Lithuania · 1323

Vilnius

B

The forest aquifer: deep, clean, and tasting of time itself.

11.2°dH

Hardness

9

Drug traces

0.88

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

India · 1537

Bangalore

C

Plateau mineral. The Cauvery under silicon stress.

5.2°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

14.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Vietnam · 1698

Ho Chi Minh City

C

Delta softness. Tropical and improving.

3.8°dH

Hardness

11

Drug traces

9.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Vietnam · 1010

Hanoi

C

The monsoon in a glass — vivid, earthen, alive

2.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

8.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Pakistan · 1729

Karachi

D

Hard, heavy, and carrying more history than any water should

14.2°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

9.4

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Sri Lanka · 1505

Colombo

B

Tropical softness — clean, warm, and faintly of jungle rain

1.9°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

4.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Saudi Arabia · 1824

Riyadh

C

The sea remade. Water that travelled 900 kilometres to reach you.

10.4°dH

Hardness

0

Drug traces

8.4

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

UAE · 1761

Abu Dhabi

B

The Pearl Gulf, demineralised and rebuilt. Technically perfect, climatically impossible.

12.8°dH

Hardness

0

Drug traces

8.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Lebanon · 3000 BCE

Beirut

F

Limestone springs through ruins — what Beirut water was, and what remains

22.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

22.4

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Morocco · 1515

Casablanca

C

The Atlas in the glass — hard, white, Mediterranean

18.5°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

8.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Ghana · 1877

Accra

C

Tropical soft. The Densu carries the laterite plateau to your glass.

4.2°dH

Hardness

9

Drug traces

2.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Ethiopia · 1886

Addis Ababa

C

High plateau. Almost mineral-free. Volcanic silk.

2.1°dH

Hardness

7

Drug traces

0.28

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Australia · 1825

Brisbane

A

Sandstone plateau. Fluoridated softness. Queensland sun.

3.8°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

12

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

United States · 1851

Seattle

A

Cascade snowmelt. Unfiltered. Exceptional.

0.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

1.8

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Jordan · 1878

Amman

C

Hard limestone plateau. Mineral-dense. Rationed.

18.4°dH

Hardness

10

Drug traces

7.2

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Bangladesh · 1608

Dhaka

D

Delta water. Treated at the limit. The weight of 22 million.

6.8°dH

Hardness

8

Drug traces

22

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

Peru · 1535

Lima

D

The Andes dissolved into a glass, delivered against the odds.

9.8°dH

Hardness

12

Drug traces

4.1

PFAS ng/L

70

compounds tracked

View edition →

The project

Water carries the memory of everywhere it has been.

Every city's tap water is a chemical autobiography — the geology it passed through, the agriculture upstream, the pharmaceuticals excreted by ten million people, the drugs that made it through wastewater treatment. We test it, bottle it, and print it. The full truth, in 7pt Space Mono, on a square glass bottle.

The politics

We grade every city. Stockholm gets an A. Paris gets a C — not because its water is unsafe, but because a city that spent €1.4 billion on the Seine and then had Olympic swimmers get sick has a credibility problem. We publish the score. The city can earn a better one.

This is how accountability works: not through shame, but through measurement. You can't improve what you don't publish. We publish it for you.

Physical specifications

The Bottle

Bormioli Rocco Swing series — square-base borosilicate glass with steel bail-arm swing-top. Made in Parma, Italy. Three sizes, two glass finishes. All four faces sandblast-engraved. Specifications to the millimetre.

250 ml

Art. 100026260

Base

58 × 58 mm

Height

194 mm

Weight (empty)

269 g

Capacity

250 ml

Glass

Frosted borosilicate

Origin

Bormioli Rocco · Parma, Italy

Closure

Swing-top (bygelstängning) — steel wire + ceramic stopper + NBR gasket

Engraving

Sandblast-engraved · 4 faces · surface-selective frosted reveal

Frosted field with clear-on-frost engraving. The chemistry appears in clear glass against milky ground.

500 ml

Art. 100026940-S

Base

68 × 68 mm

Height

248 mm

Weight (empty)

420 g

Capacity

500 ml

Glass

Clear borosilicate

Origin

Bormioli Rocco · Parma, Italy

Closure

Swing-top (bygelstängning) — steel wire + ceramic stopper + NBR gasket

Engraving

Sandblast-engraved · 4 faces · matte-on-clear engraving

Clear glass — the water is fully visible. Engraving reads as frosted text against transparent ground.

1 L

Art. 100026940

Base

80.4 × 80.4 mm

Height

308 mm

Weight (empty)

605 g

Capacity

1 000 ml

Glass

Clear borosilicate

Origin

Bormioli Rocco · Parma, Italy

Closure

Swing-top (bygelstängning) — steel wire + ceramic stopper + NBR gasket

Engraving

Sandblast-engraved · 4 faces · matte-on-clear engraving

Proportionally the most imposing bottle — 308 mm tall. The 4-face engraving carries the full 68-compound analysis.

Engraved content — 4 faces

Every face of the bottle carries a different layer of the water's story. Together the four sides form a complete document — equal parts laboratory report, political manifesto, chemistry textbook, and sensory guide.

A

Analysis

Full 68-compound laboratory results. Physical parameters → minerals → heavy metals → pharmaceuticals → illegal drug metabolites → microbiological → microplastics → PFAS. Values in μg/L, mg/L, or CFU/100mL. Status indicators: safe · trace · warn · alert · nd. Batch ID, test date, laboratory accreditation code.

B

Memory

Geological history of the water source. Political score (A–F) with failures and demands. Cultural memory — what this water has passed through, who drank it before, what the city owes it.

C

Chemistry

Water chemistry explained: how hardness forms, what each compound means, why lead appears at 0.0008 μg/L in one city and 4.2 in another. Myth and science side by side. The periodic table of this specific bottle.

D

Taste

Taste profile in wine notation: mouthfeel category, mineral notes, finish length, pairing suggestions. Hardness category (soft / medium / hard / very hard). What the chemistry actually does to your palate.

All bottles: Bormioli Rocco Swing (bygelstängning) series · borosilicate glass · swing-top closure with 316L stainless steel wire bail, ceramic stopper, NBR rubber gasket · food-safe, dishwasher-safe · sourced from glasoflaskor.se · manufactured in Parma, Italy · suitable for repeated sanitisation and refill · engraving by sandblasting through adhesive mask — permanent, scratch-resistant, food-contact safe.