ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: The Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) has appreciated the decision to implement legally enforceable quality standards for bottled/mineral water.

The enforcement of these standards has materialized after three years’ rigorous lobbying campaign of the CRCP for safe drinking water, says a press release issued by the Commission here on Monday.

It is hoped the enforcement of quality standards for water would result in a marked improvement in the quality of bottled water brands available in the market. However, the CRCP has also stressed that standards should also be formulated for tap water and civic water supply schemes.

Under its “Campaign for Safe Drinking Water”, the CRCP has been working on water-related issues for the last three years. In this regard, the issues of availability, accessibility and quality of drinking water are central of the campaign, which is focused on both the tap and bottled water.

One of the crucial issues with which the CRCP was confronted was the lack of legally enforceable water quality standards, against which the quality of water could be tested.

The CRCP started a vigorous campaign for the formulation and enforcement of quality standards, and started extensive lobbying for it with the government quarters, particularly Pakistan Standards & Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), which is an affiliate of the ministry for science and technology.

“In this regard, the CRCP is particularly grateful to Dr Attaur Rehman, the federal minister for science and technology, who took personal interest in the whole issue”, it said.

The quality standards for bottled water have been formulated by the PSQCA. Water standards PSS No 2102 for natural mineral water and PSS No 4639 for bottled drinking water have been declared mandatory for mineral and bottled water manufactures under the authority of PSQCA Act IV of 1996 of the Government vide SRO: 638 (1)/2000, dated September 12, 2001.

The water quality standards are mandatory, and have become legally enforceable from December 1. After December 1, all brands of bottled water have to comply with the stipulated standards, failing which legal action could be initiated against the non- complying bottled water manufacturers.

In this regard, the CRCP urges all the citizens and consumers of bottled/mineral water to contact the CRCP office in case they have any complaints with regard to quality of bottled or mineral water.

Despite the aforesaid enforcement of quality standards, the CRCP has still strong reservations about the lack of mandatory and legally enforceable quality standards for tap water, which is consumed by the majority of citizens.

Given the fact that 80 per cent diseases in Pakistan are caused due to unsafe and contaminated water, the CRCP urges the need for an immediate action in this regard and hopes that following the suit of quality standards for bottled water, the PSQCA would soon come up with similar quality standards for tap water provided by the civic water supply schemes.