ISLAMABAD: Drinking water from a dozen brands has been declared unsafe by Pakistan Council for Research and Water Resources (PCRWR).

According to the PCRWR’s monitoring report (October – December 2019), 102 samples of mineral/bottled water from different brands were collected from Islamabad, Karachi, Multan, Lahore, Peshawar, Bahawalpur, Tando Jam, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Muzaffarabad.

Comparison of analytical findings with permissible limits of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) revealed that six brands such as Shukran, Droplet, Defence, Vinh, Aqua Ayolam and Livon were found to be unsafe due to presence of higher levels of sodium ranging from 64-250 mg/litre than PSQCA water quality standard for sodium which is 50 mg/litre.

According to PCRWR four brands including Blue Plus, Defence, Aqua Drop, Aqua Ayolam and Stream were found unsafe due to the presence of low pH level.

Karakorum Flow and Top Up were contaminated with bacteria and Livon with high levels of fluoride.

PCRWR maintained that poor quality of drinking water has forced a large number of citizens to buy bottled water and as a consequence of this expanding market a mushroom growth of bottled water industry in the country was witnessed during the last few years.

To monitor and improve the quality of bottled water, the government through Ministry of Science and Technology has designated the task to PCRWR for quarterly monitoring of bottled/mineral water brands and publicise the results.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2020