市场上出售的桶装水品种很多，有纯净水、山泉水、矿泉水、矿化水、活化水、离子水等。由于水源不同，制作工艺不同，不同种类桶装水中所含微量元素种类和含量也有很大差别。有的桶装水水源是天然的地下水，例如：矿泉水和山泉水；有的则是城市自来水，将自来水加工制成桶装水，例如纯净水、蒸馏水和离子水。
There are many kinds of barreled water on the market, including purified water, mountain spring water, mineral water, mineralized water, activated water, ionic water, etc. Due to different water sources and different manufacturing processes, the types and contents of trace elements in different kinds of barreled water are also very different. Some bottled water sources are natural groundwater, such as mineral water and mountain spring water; some are urban tap water, which is processed into barreled water, such as purified water, distilled water and ionic water.
目前我国主要饮水类型为自来水、桶装水、分质供水和自动售水机售水。津京沪三地调查显示，2005年日常饮用水仍然保持饮用自来水的市民为28%，选择分质供水、自动售水机的比例分别为10%和4%，牢牢占据饮用水市场主导地位。
At present, the main types of drinking water in China are tap water, bottled water, water supplied by different quality and water sold by automatic water vending machine. According to the survey in Tianjin, Beijing and Shanghai, 28% of the residents still kept drinking tap water in their daily drinking water supply in 2005, and 10% and 4% of them chose to supply water according to different quality and 4% chose automatic water vending machine, which firmly occupied the leading position in the drinking water market.