Although vessels to bottle and transport water were part of the earliest human civilizations,[1] bottling water began in the United Kingdom with the first water bottling at the Holy Well in 1622.[2] The demand for bottled water was fueled in large part by the resurgence in spa-going and water therapy among Europeans and American colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries.[3]
Active tourist centres have grown up around many mineral water sites since ancient times, such as Rogaška Slatina (Slovenia), Radenci (Slovenia), Rionero in Vulture (Italy), Piešťany (Slovakia), Hisarya (Bulgaria), Bílina (Czech Republic), Vichy (France), Birštonas (Lithuania), Jermuk (Armenia), Yessentuki (Russia), Kislovodsk (Russia), Spa (Belgium), Sodere (Ethiopia), Krynica-Zdrój (Poland), Sulphur Baths (Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia), Bath (England), Khorog (Tajikistan), or Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic).