Sale of unhygienic bottled water goes on in Islamabad.
ISLAMABAD: It was shocking to note dozens of unhygienic bottled water brands being sold in the market openly while the department concerned failed to take action against the units producing unsafe water for drinking.
A number of factories were operating with an illegal brand name while many others were working with the fake titles of original companies.
Hospitals, bus stops, recreational places, kiosks etc are the main points where the fake or unregistered water bottled brands are being sold and causing diseases among the masses.
The PCRWR’s last three quarterly reports had declared 35 bottled brand as unsafe and unhygienic for human consumption during an analysis.
The monitoring report of Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) for the quarter from October to December, 2016 had declared 11 bottled water brands unsafe due to chemical and microbiological contaminations, which 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).
According to PCRWR, out of the unsafe brands, seven brands: Well Care, Lite Aqua, New Premier, Royal Blue, Aqua Safe, Aqua Drink Water and Rahat) had comparatively high levels of Arsenic ranging from 12-34 ppb than the PSQCA water quality standard for arsenic (10 ppb).
The report revealed that only two brands were legal while the other nine were unregistered and working illegally.
A previous quarterly report of PCRWR dated July to September 2016 had declared the brands: Premier Fresh, Well Care, National, Siiz Cool, New ARBO, Cottage Foods Drink Water, Reliable, Pacific Pure, OAS Water and Aqua National as unsafe.
The PSQCA had sealed about 128 units during the last eight months, said DG PSQCA Khalid Siddique.

St. Joseph residents to get bottled water through September.
(AP) – A new report says it’s likely to be another eight months before St Joseph residents can drink tap water.
The state has provided bottled water since mid-December, because high lead levels were found at about one-quarter of the homes.
The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/2mtPyAA ) that David Greer, who is overseeing the town’s finances, says work has begun on a new water system.
State health officer Jimmy Guidry says St. Joseph’s problems are less severe than those in Flint, Michigan.
He says one reason is that many people already drank bottled water, because the tap water often was brown and smelly.
And children under the age of six live in only two of the houses with high lead levels.
Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.
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EDITORIAL: University won’t stop selling single-use plastic bottles until we stop buying them.
Take Back the Tap has also worked with campus-dining supplier Aramark to temporarily stop the sale of single-use bottled water in The Market on south campus.
So join us in supporting Take Back the Tap — stop buying bottled water on campus.
Take Back the Tap President Allison LaPlatt said the university is looking to see a unified student voice offering its opinion on ending water bottle sales.
Sales of Aquafina, the brand of bottled water available on campus, account for 10 percent of CMU’s campus stores’ total sales.
This small change is practical for college students and may save you a little change in the process.
Buying a refillable water bottle saves money.
Refilling a reusable container with one of Moore Hall’s refill stations costs you nothing and helps reduce plastic waste.
We can stand idle or join together to help make a change in our community that will benefit everyone.
We can continue to purchase single-use water bottles from Pepsi, or we can each make the small change to use refillable bottles.

FLINT, MI — State officials are talking about cutting off funding for bottled water distribution in Flint by summer, Mayor Karen Weaver says.
Weaver said the city has been represented in meetings where bottled water distribution has been discussed and representatives of state government have "been talking about (continuing) through maybe September."
The groups sued the city and state, seeking home delivery of bottled water, and in December, a federal judge appointed a "settlement master" to mediate after an attorney for Snyder requested it.
Heaton said all parties involved in the lawsuit have been prohibited from discussing the subjects of mediation by U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson.
A federal judge has appointed a "settlement master" to mediate a Flint water crisis lawsuit after an attorney for Gov.
Rick Snyder requested it.
The 90th percentile lead value of water samples collected from high-risk homes in Flint from July 1 until Dec. 31 was 12 parts per billion, less than the 15 ppb action level for lead, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
When additional home tests were added to the results from the same period, the 90th percentile value of samples registered at 8 ppb.
But as recently as the first six months of last year, lead levels in the city exceeded the federal action limit, registering a 90th percentile value of 20 ppb.
Some Flint officials have said they are concerned by the potential for lead releases as the city embarks on a massive public works project this summer — the replacement of thousands of lead service lines in Flint.

Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief THE Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) has warned consumers against buying bottled water without a seal of approval by the standards body.
With the proliferation of water bottling enterprises on the market, SAZ acting director general Mr Cyril Siringwani said uncertainty has gripped many consumers as to which brands were safe to drink.
He said an absence of a seal and a SAZ certification would be an indicator that the company was not registered and could be selling untested water.
SAZ operates a voluntary Product Mark Certification Scheme where products are certified as assurance to consumers that they meet the requirements of the applicable standards and will therefore perform as required.
“Any water that is fit for human consumption should have a seal and a SAZ approval mark.
If it doesn’t have that, consumers should be careful,” said Mr Siringwani.
“There is unsafe bottled water, which has not been tested by SAZ on the market.
So a seal makes it easy for consumers to see if the bottle has been tampered with.” Mr Siringwani reiterated that certification was a voluntary process adding that not all companies have come for the process.
SAZ issues a three-year valid certificate to a water bottling company that would have registered with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, and have had their water samples tested by SAZ-accredited laboratories, and on-site verification of the entire production process.
The Government, however, did not name the brands fit for consumption.

Nestlé Will Pay 13,500% More to Pump Ontario’s Water for Bottling.
Today, Nestlé pays just $3.71 per every million litres of water the company pumps out of the ground in Ontario, so that it can bottle it and then and sell it back to thirsty customers for profit.
But that won’t last for much longer.
Nestlé is licensed to pump 4.7 million litres of water per day from two sites in Ontario, meaning that the company will now pay $2,367 for the water it takes every day, instead of the paltry $17.50 it pays now.
In October, feeling the pressure, the province proposed a two-year moratorium on any new or extended water-taking permits.
But the larger, unanswered question is: should water be a commodity to begin with?
“There’s an economic issue here, yes, and if water is being used as a commodity then it should be priced accordingly,” Scharper said.
“But the larger question is whether water for bottling purposes should be for sale at all.” “If this decision leads to an acceptance of water as a commodity instead of a basic common good, then that might be a problem,” he continued.
Scharper’s perspective is one that goes back to the first enclosing of communal farming lands by the wealthy to create private property in the 1700s, creating a class of landless labourers.
“The industry pumps water out of the ground, and spews out a plastic bottle for every 500 millilitres—we get water, which we can get anyway from public sources, and we’re left with garbage.” Nestlé is expected to release a statement on the increase later today, and we will update this piece when we hear from the company.

11 bottled water brands found unsafe.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Council of Water Resources (PCRWR) collected 109 bottled water brands to analyse quality during the first quarter of the current year, out of which 11 brands were found unsafe due to chemical contaminations.
According to official sources on Monday, results of quarterly monitoring report of bottled/mineral water are regularly disseminated through the print/electronic media and the PCRWR website.
The report was also sent to the Capital Development Authority (CDA), the Commissioner Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), the Provincial Chief Secretaries and the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) for taking appropriate legal action against sub-standard brands.
It is pertinent to mention here that the PCRWR, which is working under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), does not have any statutory authority to take action against those selling contaminated bottled water.
The PSQCA on the basis of the quarterly report of the PCRWR, takes actions against illegal/unlicenced bottled drinking water manufacturers and keeps a close monitoring of its licencees (manufacturers of bottled drinking water) from time to time.
The PSQCA has a complete mechanism to monitor the quality of bottled drinking water and mineral water through quarterly inspections of manufacturing units and market surveillance wherein the samples are also taken from the open market and sent for testing to laboratory’s analysis in accordance with Pakistan’s standards.
Highlighting the steps taken to control production/sale of sub-standard bottled drinking water in the country, the PSQCA has closed 87 bottled drinking water plants from August, 2015 to November, 2016 and filed cases against different manufacturers.
The hygienic condition of the plants is also being monitored along with the quality control process and production while the PSQCA also checks bottled drinking water at the import stage as per Pakistan Conformity Assessment Rules, 2011.
The PSQCA has planned to undertake an awareness raising scheme through the print and electronic media for an enhanced awareness to instill quality culture in country.