Is bottled water safe?
Bottled water has become popular in recent years and most of us trust this water to be safe for drinking. No one would have thought of buying the water for drinking in 80s and 90s but now every other household invests in clean water. The News printed this list of unsafe bottled water available in the markets. Please check out if you are buying any of these harmful brands.
The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has found 12 out of 77 bottled water brands unsafe for human consumption.
As many as 12 out of 77 bottled water brands are unsafe, says the PCRWR quarterly-year (April-June) report.
According to the 15-page report, Nadiq Water, Pan Pure, Maz Fresh, Marjan, Vina, Aqua-One, Active, Nation, Hamaliya, Aqua National, Pineo and Asal Pio Na, are unsafe and a major cause of serious health hazards.
Arsenic safe limit is 10ppb units, however, it is found 54ppb units in Nadiq Water, Pan Pura 15ppb, Aqua-One 14ppb, Nation 40ppb, Hamaliya 11ppb, Aqua National 57ppb and Pineo 13ppb. Sodium safe limit is 50ppm, but, it is 120ppm in Asal Pio Na, 68ppm in Nation, Max Fresh 59ppm, 58ppm in Vina and Marjan 53ppm.
The report says that Arsenic and Sodium both are potential concerns. The water quality report also finds massive presence of total dissolved solids (TDS): 606ppm in Asal Pio Na, whereas its safe limit is 500ppm. Moreover, fluoride safe limit is 0.7ppm; however, it is 1.39ppm in Active.
Samples were collected from commercially available brands of mineral/bottled water from 14 different cities of the country. Sample 1 was handed over to shopkeepers, sample 2 was preserved in PCRWR’s National Water Quality Laboratory, sample 3 was used for microbiological analysis and sample 4 for physico-chemical analysis.
The report says bacterial contamination causes hepatitis, typhoid, dysentery, diarrhea and cholera, while presence of Arsenic in water is a cause of cancer (bladder, skin, prostrate, kidney, nose and liver), diabetes, kidney diseases, hypertension, heart ailments, birth defects and black foot diseases. Sodium causes hypertension, the report further says.
It cautions that quality of drinking water is deteriorating continuously due to biological contamination caused by human waste. Chemical pollutants of industries and agricultural inputs are also harming water quality. Piped water also gets contaminated because pipes are laid very close to sewerage lines or open drains and causes many serious water-borne diseases.
The report points out 45 per cent infant deaths are occurring due to diarrhea and about 60 per cent due to overall infectious water-borne diseases.
According to World Health Organisation, 25-30 per cent of the ailments are gastro-intestinal in nature. Out of the bottled water brands tested and analysed, 31 new safe brands are: Atlantis, Valley, Best Water, Venora, Puurle, Water, Vital Sip of Water, Alfa, Zindagi, Miracle, Orion, DeAar, Shinawar, Iqra Fina, Snow Drop, Aktiv, Berg, Rise Water, Vina, Hunza Spring, Bake Master, Hamaliya, Safi, Snow Valley, Aspen Aqua, Moya Mineral Water, Kashmir, Fine Life, Cool, IVA Pure and Ripple.
