ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has declared 13 brands of mineral water unsafe due to excess of chemical or microbiological contamination.
The companies including New Nation, Mazan Pure Life, Premier, Al Haider, Eau Water, Eden Pure Water, Deep Pure Water, Oriel, Jumeirah, Al Sahar, NG Fresh Water, Aqua National, Water Icon were found selling contaminated water.
National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) Director General Lubna Naheed Bukhari said that according to the report issued by NWQL, the poor quality of drinking water has forced a large cross section of citizens to buy bottled water.
As a consequence of this expanding market, a mushroom growth of bottled water industry in the country is witnessed during the last few years, she maintained. However, many of the mineral water companies were found selling contaminated water, she added.
According to the monitoring report from October to December 2015, 100 samples of mineral/bottled water brands have been collected from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, D I Khan, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Sialkot, Multan, Tandojam, Karachi, Quetta and Gujranwala.
Out of those 13 unsafe brands, New Nation, Premier, Eau Water, Deep Pure Water, Oriel, Aqua National have comparatively high level of arsenic ranging from 18 51 ppb than PSQCA water quality standard for arsenic (10 ppb), whereas three brands – Eden Pure Water, Al Sahar, Water Icon were found to be unsafe due to microbiological contamination which may cause cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis, typhoid etc, she observed.
