KARACHI, Oct 11: The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority has decided to monitor the quality of natural mineral water and bottled drinking water and both the items have been included in the list of compulsory items.

Under the Certification Marks Ordinance, to be enforced from Dec 1, the suppliers would need registration and licences would be issued by PSQCA to manufactures only after ascertaining proper quality control facilities.

This was stated by PSQCA’s director-general, Dr S. Khaqan Hasan, at a seminar held here on Thursday on the topic of “Right to Safe Water”.

Dr Hasan said though the primary responsibility of quality control is of the manufacturer, the PSA would monitor the quality by periodic check-ups of quality control and collection of samples from manufacturers and random collection of the licensed manufacturers from the market.

He said a licensed manufacturer would be required to display Pakistan Standard and the Mark on the bottle or packing of water. No person shall use the Authority’s mark except under a licence or certificate issued from the PSQCA.

Any person contravening the provisions of the authority under various sections of the ordinance could be punished by imprisonment up to one year or fine of Rs 30,000 or both, he said, adding if the bottled water from a manufacturer would not conform to Pakistan Standards, the manufacture keeping in view stock and sale would be prohibited after Dec 12.

He also asked the consumers to check the mark of Pakistan Standard on every item which they purchase from the market as such a habit would encourage the manufacturers of items, not only under mandatory control, but also voluntarily to manufacture quality products according to Pakistan Standard Specifications which, he added, are comparable to world standards.

Speaking as chief guest, Sindh minister for health, Maj-Gen Ahsan Ahmed, said though the ultimate aim of all governments is to help provide potable water to all its citizens, potable water in Pakistan is available to only 60 per cent population.

Stressing the need for adopting effective measures for ensuring better quality products, the minister said there was a dire need to merge public health engineering and other food related departments with the health ministry.

Referring to the topic of the seminar, the minister said on the one hand one must remember that less than one per cent of population had an access to bottled or mineral water in the country and, on the other, to a large extent consumers have no means of judging the safety of their drinking water themselves, but their attitude towards their water supply and their water suppliers will be affected to a considerable extent by the aspects of water quality that they are able to perceive with their own sense.

The sale of bottled water in the country, he added, had increased tremendously in recent years, mainly because of an increased awareness of the role water plays in the causation of common diseases of infectious origin, deterioration in the quality of tap water and as a result of public perception of purity driven by advertisements and packaging labels, featuring pristine glaciers and crystal-clear mountain springs.

In this regard, he said in European and certain other countries, many consumers believe that natural mineral water brands have medicinal properties or offers other health benefits.

Such water brands have high mineral contents and in some cases significantly above the concentrations normally accepted in drinking water, he said, adding such water brands have a long tradition of use and are often accepted on the basis that they are considered food rather than drinking water.

He said though certain mineral waters may be useful in providing essential micro-nutrients, such as calcium, the WHO is unaware of any convincing evidence to support the beneficial effects of consuming such mineral waters.

As a consequence, he added that the WHO guidelines for drinking water quality do not recommend minimum concentrations of essential compounds and on the other hand, in some countries, bottled water with very low mineral contents, such as distilled or demineralised waters, may be offered for sale.

In this regard, he said a large number of people have traditionally consumed rainwater which is similarly low in minerals without apparent adverse health effects.

In his presidential address, Dr M. Altaf Khan of Karachi University’s Institute of Environmental Studies and Water Research Centre, said 98 per cent samples of water on their analysis were found unfit for human consumption.

He said since water and sewerage lines in whole of Pakistan, including Karachi, are running parallel to each other, one cannot rule the possibility of sewerage water seeping into pipelines.

Describing the water-related diseases as number one killer in developing countries, he advised the people to boil water before drinking it.

The seminar held under the aegis of Consumer Protection Council, was addressed, among others, by Dr Sabiha Mirza, Syed Mohammad Shah and A. H. Maker.

Experts were unanimous in their opinion, based on scientifically analyzed data, that water available for drinking purpose to the local public is generally unfit for human consumption and advised that water should be boiled for at least 10 minutes to combat microbial contamination, adds APP.

Dr. Rumina Hussain discussing referred to a recent study spread over a nine month period (Jan 2001 to Sept 2001) revealing that of the 1522 samples of tap and well water, collected at random from different parts of Karachi, 502 (59 percent) were found to be infected with either faecal or environmental contamination.

Of the 316 bottled water samples, she said 144 (45.5 per cent) were unfit for drinking purpose. The alarming aspect she said was that the contamination levels appeared to have a surge as compared to similar study in 1998 when 50 per cent of tap water samples and 75 per cent of well water were found polluted.

The participants also adopted a resolution asking formulation of quality water standards and their strict implementation by the government; packing of bottled drinking water in food grade packing material with proper display of registration number issued by the Ministry of Health, date of manufacture and expiry alongwith the batch number and full address of the manufacturers.