ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) on Friday declared 16 brands of bottled water unsafe for human consumption after detecting high levels of sodium, arsenic, potassium and microbiological contamination in them.

The government through Ministry of Science and Technology has designated the task to the PCRWR to quarterly monitor bottled or mineral water brands and publish the results in the best public interest.

For the last quarter from October to December PCRWR collected 181 samples of mineral and bottled water brands from 22 cities.

Comparison of test results with the permissible limits of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has revealed that 16 brands were unsafe for human consumption.

Thirteen brands such as Oxford Pure Water, Sip Up, New Buxton, More Plus, Icelay, Pure, Oxidano, Nation, Noble, Aab-i-Hayat, Aab-i-Sehat, Defence and Douro were found to be unsafe due to presence of higher levels of sodium than the permissible limit.

High level of arsenic was found in one brand called Nation, high level of potassium was detected in two brands called More Plus and Noble and high level of total dissolved solids (TDS) were found in two brands, Oxidano and Noble.

Four brands, Minah, Sip Up, New AS, and Wateria, were found microbiologically contaminated.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2022