Drinking water quality is deteriorating continually due to biological contamination from human waste, chemical pollutants from industries and agricultural inputs. Piped water also gets contaminated because pipes are laid very close to sewerage lines or open drains and cause many serious water borne diseases. It was found that 45% of infant deaths have been attributed to diarrhea and about 60% to overall infectious waterborne diseases in Pakistan. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 25-30% of the diseases are gastro-intestinal in nature.
I was reading today’s news paper and found a news that the bottled water available in our local markets are not safe. The report was given by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Government of Pakistan. Ministry of Science & Technology informed PCRWR that the Cabinet in its meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister directed Ministry of Science & Technology to undertake regular survey/samples of bottled/mineral water at source of production publicize the results on a quarterly basis and follow up with punitive/legal action.
According to PCRWR report there are 66 different brands currently available in the markets, out of which 19 brand’s water is dangerous to health. I was not shocked of this news because there are several cases registered against eatables goods. People or some lobby I call them Money Worshipers which are very active in Pakistan to sell poisonousness goods.
PCRWR SAMPLING METHODOLOGY
- No. of Brands Collected: 66
- No. of Cities Targeted: 11 (Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sahiwal and Sialkot)
- Composition of Sampling Team: One Research Officer and Two Laboratory Assistants
- Sampling Procedure: Samples of sixty six commercially available brands of mineral/bottled water were collected from eleven cities of four Provinces of Pakistan These samples were collected by the senior staff members of Head Office and Regional Offices of PCRWR from April-June, 2010. A set of four bottles of each brand was collected and sealed on site. Identification codes are allotted to all the brands according to PCRWR Bottled Water Classification System.
Transparency:
- Sample No. 1: Handed over to Shopkeeper at the time of sample collection.
- Sample No. 2: Preserved at National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) of PCRWR, Islamabad for future record.
- Sample No. 3: Used for Microbiological Analysis in NWQL.
- Sample No. 4: Used for physico-chemical analysis in NWQL.
SAFE BRANDS
UNSAFE BRANDS
You can download Complete Report from here: Bottled Water Report 2010
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