ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) on Tuesday declared another eight brands of bottled water unsafe for human consumption.

The PCRWR quarterly reviews quality of bottled/mineral water brands and publicise results.

According to the monitoring report for the quarter from January to March, 110 samples of mineral/bottled water brands were collected from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Multan, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Tandojam, Quetta and Karachi.

Comparison of analytical findings with permissible limits of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) revealed that eight brands --Edlen Premium, Aqua Fine, Pure Aqua, Livon, Zam, Aqua Gold, Pure 18, and Aab-e-Noor --were found to be unsafe due to both chemical and microbiological contamination.

Out of those unsafe brands, Aqua Fine has high levels of arsenic with 20 parts per billion (ppb) against 10 ppb permissible under the PSQCA water quality standard.

PCRWR warned that the excessive level of arsenic could cause various types of skin diseases, diabetes, kidney diseases, hypertension, heart diseases, birth defects, black foot diseases and multiple types of cancers, etc.

The four brands, Zam, Aqua Gold, Pure 18 and Aab-i-Noor, were found to be unsafe due to microbiological contamination which may cause cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis, typhoid, etc.

Similarly, Edlen Premium, Pure Aqua and Livon were found unsafe due to the presence of higher levels of sodium ranging from 57-60 parts per million (ppm) against 50 ppm permissible under the PSQCA water quality standard.

Last week at a conference on the importance of water conservation, Director Regional Bureau for Science in Asia and the Pacific, Dr Shabaz Khan also cautioned against excessive consumption of bottled water terming it unsafe for human consumption.

PCRWR said that the poor quality of potable water had forced a large section of citizens to buy bottled water, which resulted in mushroom growth of bottled water industry in the last few years.

However, many of the mineral/bottled water companies have been found selling contaminated water.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2018