‘Polluted water being sold as mineral water’

PTI leader: ‘Poison’ was being sold in the name of mineral water

LAHORE: The opposition benches demanded action against people who were involved in selling polluted water filled in mineral water bottles.

The demand was made by deputy opposition leader Muhammad Sibtain Khan of PTI in his resolutions he submitted in Punjab Assembly. He contended that according to an investigative report, there were 104 contaminated samples of mineral water which were found from different areas of the metropolis.

He said the ‘poison’ was being sold in the name of mineral water. “It tantamount to deceiving people who are using the water believing it to be the product they paid for,” he added.



“People involved in this business were fleecing people and earing billions of rupees. However, no one is ready to take action against the responsible persons,” he remarked.

Earlier in January it had been reported by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) that  since 2002 the quality of bottled water had been tested. They said it has been established that 10%-15% of this water is contaminated and contains chemical and microbiological contamination.

Sharing results of the monitoring report for the October-December 2016 quarter, the PCRWR spokesperson said 78 samples of bottled water brands revealed that 11 brands were unsafe.

“These brands include Well Care, Lite Aqua, New Premier, Royal Blue, Aqua Safe, Aqua Drink Water, Rahat, Oslo, NG Fresh Water, Nurturmil Water and Aab-e-Khoob among others,” the spokesperson said.



The official said for the purpose of its research, samples of bottled water were taken from many cities like Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Quetta, Peshawar, Muzaffarabad Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan, Lahore and Tando Jam.

“Some brands contained excessive level of arsenic which causes skin diseases, diabetes, kidney diseases, hypertension, heart diseases birth defects, black foot diseases and multiple types of cancers.  Others contained higher levels of sodium which may cause Cholera, Diarrhea, Dysentery, Hepatitis, Typhoid.”

The spokesperson said the reason why people consume bottled water is to avoid tap water which is 80%-90% contaminated as was revealed in research last year.