Carpe Diem Botanic Water
€1.45 for 750ml, €1.93 per litre
Highs:This water is made with "100 per cent natural ingredients" and is the only one of the brands tried that is completely free of additives, sweeteners and preservatives. It has a nice sweet, pear kick to it and is unquestionably refreshing. It is slightly cloudy - which is to its credit, as all the other waters are unnaturally clear - and promised to "vitalise" PriceWatch.

Lows:But if it did, we didn't notice. All the natural goodness comes at a cost, financially and otherwise. In addition to a higher price, it also has a higher calorie count than the competition and a lot less fizz. What the manufacturers might describe as "lightly carbonated" we would call "a bit flat". Verdict: Nice and wholesome

Star rating:****

H2OH!

€1.79 for 1.5 litres, €1.19 per litre

Highs:This has a very strong lemony smell, reminiscent of 7-Up - which is hardly surprising given that it is made by the same company. It will certainly quench your thirst, has no sugar at all and a negligible calorie count, which might make it ideal for the weight-conscious.

Lows:It is not for the taste-conscious, however, and given a choice between this and plain old tap water we'd go with the tap water every time. In its washed-out green bottle it looks like watered-down 7-Up and tastes a bit like it, too. The strong artificial sweeteners leave a pretty horrible aftertaste. It has a long - and hardly wholesome - ingredient list and we think the name was pretty shocking too.

Verdict:Oh dear

Star rating: **

Kerry Spring:

€1.79 for 2 litres, €0.90 per litre

Highs:This has a nice zingy and refreshing taste, and a decent hit of lime. Although it contains preservatives and sweeteners, it has a surprisingly natural flavour, however the manufactures have managed it. It is widely available, in both big and little bottles. It is also comparatively low in calories.

Lows:"Quench your thirst naturally," reads the bottle, which is contradictory when you look at the ingredient list, which contains some pretty artificial-sounding ingredients. Maybe the manufacturerswere hoping that if they put the nice ingredients - water, apple and lemon - in bigger letters than the less nice ones, we wouldn't spot them.

Verdict:Surprisingly refreshing

Star rating:****

Clearly Tipperary

€1.66 for 2 litres, €0.83 cent per litre

Highs:This tastes weirdly of lemony flavoured Alka-Seltzer, and while that might not be to everyone's taste, PriceWatch quite likes it. It is the cheapest of the waters tested, albeit by a small margin, and doesn't have as overpowering a smell as most of the other brands.

Lows:This has a very strong taste of lemon and lime, and so, while it is perfectly pleasant, it's a long way from water - it tastes for all the world like a considerably better-known soft drink. The bubbles, which burst out of the bottle with alacrity, have a short enough life span so the water goes flat rather quickly.

Verdict:Lemony but not so bubbly.

Star rating:***

Tesco Spring Water

€0.86 for 1 litre

Highs:This is low in sugar and low in calories and keeps bubbling for longer than the competition. It comes in easy-to-manage one-litre bottles and tastes very limey. While it contains absolutely no sugar, it still manages to be very, very sweet, which might be to some people's tastes.

Lows:PriceWatch isn't among these people, however - we find the artificially generated sweetness pretty horrible. Given that Tesco's own-brand products are usually quite keenly priced, this is slightly on the pricey side - not dear, but dearer than we would have expected.

Verdict:Unnaturally sweet

Star rating:**

Star quality:

Excellent *****

Great ****

Fine ***

Below par **

Awful *