The country has been awash with news of food contaminated with chemical residues that has been on sale to the unsuspecting public.
And while sugar has received more prominence, the reality is, there are dozens of other foods, including bottled water, in the market whose quality cannot be guaranteed and which are not being talked about.
Kenya has a flourishing bottled water market, with 2016 figures from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimating sales to be more than Sh12 billion per year.
Sometimes, unscrupulous vendors go as far as using bottles bearing labels of well-known companies and passing it off as genuine products.
The thriving industry seems undeterred by the sporadic enforcement that is carried out by government authorities.
According to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), over 70 per cent of products in the water and juice sector are illicit.
However, the Standardisation Mark (SM) for domestically produced product is not a secure, serialised mark that can be used by consumers to verify the authenticity of these product — each manufacturer is simply authorised to include the SM image in their product packaging.
Additionally, the recent scandal regarding Kebs Import Standardisation Marks (ISM) has demonstrated the limits of a marking solution that is not secure and robust.
For the implementation of such a system to work however, the KRA must work hand in glove with other relevant authorities such as Kebs, the Water Services Regulatory Board and the Water Resource Management Authority.
The ultimate goal should be ensuring that only companies bottling genuine, clean and safe mineral water are licensed and authorised to bear the secure KRA stamp.

Upper Dublin School District is pledging to test water at all their schools and install carbon filters on water fountains.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Amid ongoing concerns of chemicals found in drinking water around the naval air bases, a Montgomery County school district is taking steps to try to protect students.
Upper Dublin School District is pledging to test water at all their schools, install carbon filters on water fountains, while also telling students and parents to bring bottled water.
According to State Representative Todd Stephens, Maple Glen Elementary is the only school in the Upper Dublin School District that gets water from providers that have shown a level of PFC, which studies show may be connected to several health issues, including liver damage, high cholesterol, and thyroid disease.
Stephens says filters aren’t enough.
Schools should provide bottled water.
“So they can shut down the water fountains," he said, "and I think they need to shut down the cooking sinks as well.” Ginny Vitella, a mom of three in the district, says she feels not enough is being done.
“At the high school, they’re filling up five-gallon jugs of water and bringing them out to the field," she said, "and that’s just going to be out of the tap water.” Water from Aqua and Ambler Borough has shown levels of PFCs.
Horsham, Warminster and Warrington have installed installed filters to remove detectable levels.

A proliferation of beverages that don’t fit within traditional drink categories is creating a headache for retailers, confusion for shoppers and a challenge for manufacturers that are trying to keep pace with changing consumer tastes.
#BeyondSoda Beverage makers are adding new flavors and new products as consumer tastes shift beyond traditional drinks like soda.
No longer do soda companies, coffee companies and alcohol companies stay in their lanes.
Anheuser-Busch InBev , the world’s largest beer brewer, is selling ready-to-drink ice tea and organic caffeinated sparkling water.
“I’m sure there’s some logic to it, but as a consumer it’s confusing.” The fermented tea kombucha is shelved in the organic produce section at a grocery store in Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo: STEPHANIE AARONSON/THE Wall Street JOURNAL That store has seven different sections devoted to cold drinks, in addition to coolers at every checkout lane stocked with bottles of soda, iced coffee and energy drinks.
PepsiCo’s outgoing Chief Executive Indra Nooyi more than a decade ago staked her career—and the company’s future—on a plan to expand the company’s portfolio into healthier, more nutritious products.
“The consumer is moving to this triangle of taste, nutrition and convenience where I think we are in a very sweet spot,” PepsiCo’s incoming CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a recent video to staff.
Zico in March launched a new line of “Coco-Lixirs” made from coconut water, cold-pressed juice and ingredients like ginger and turmeric.
The coffee company is calling the drink a “hybrid” of coffee and juice, and when it makes its way to retailers, CEO Todd Carmichael said he’s not sure where in stores it will be displayed.
Sometimes, though, companies go too far in trying to create new beverage categories.

This is also the best time to invest in a sport bottle to keep kids, and you, hydrated while out on the field or just for a daily routine.
Many people buy bottled water for the convenience alone, while others think that water out of bottles with pictures of mountain streams must surely be more pure than tap water.
Artesian water comes from tapping an aquifer in which the water level stands above the top of the water source.
Competition is very expensive to enter, so municipalities typically only enter every few years.)
Mineral water comes from a source tapped at one or more bore holes or springs, originating from a geologically and physically protected underground water source.
Sparkling water may come from all of the sources mentioned above and should be labeled as such.
For example, sparkling mineral water, sparkling spring water, etc.
It is estimated that Americans buy 28 billion bottles of water a year and 80 percent of those end up in a landfill — every year.
If the bottles were connected end-to-end, they could reach from the earth to the moon and back over 11 times!
Purchase a few refillable bottles and use your own tap water.

The latter refers to crucial investments needed in local municipal water infrastructure we rely upon for cheap and high-quality drinking water.
Funny enough, we are quickly up in arms when our municipal water rate goes up, but we are willing to pay almost 2,000 times (!)
more for bottled water, which is most likely not much more than nicely packaged, refiltered tap water and subject to lower quality standards than our tap water.
For that same amount ($2.62), you could fill 4,787 20-ounce bottles with tap water.
Assuming a price of $1 for 20 ounces of bottled water makes it 1,827 times more expensive than tap water!
Tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, while bottled water is regulated under less stringent standards by the Food and Drug Administration.
Because bottled water tastes better?
Full disclosure: For taste reasons, I refilter our tap water before it fills up my family’s glasses, pitchers and water bottles, but nevertheless it’s our primary and preferred method of hydration.
I’m not a cheapskate, but buying bottled water is one of the hardest things for me.
Good thing we have many local organizations and government entities that work diligently year-round to ensure clean drinking water and respond swiftly to water-related emergencies.

ADAMS — It could be the middle of next week before Adams residents can drink tap water or cook without boiling it first, as testing continues to be sure the system is clear of suspected contamination.
Results of water samples taken Thursday, after steps to disinfect the system with chlorine began, are expected back Saturday.
But because the DEP normally requires two consecutive days of clear test results, monitoring is likely to continue into next week, according to John Barrett, superintendent of the Adams Fire District.
The boil order is forcing Adams restaurants to stop serving tap water and taking precautions with foods cooked in water.
It’s not anything a business wants to go through," Bartlett said.
Ben Acquista, owner of The Daily Grind nearby on Park Street, said his restaurant received lots of calls from people asking whether it is serving coffee.
"I was boiling water all day," she said.
Bottled water was supplied.
The center will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Hartman said the store has 24 pallets on hand in a variety of bottle sizes, with store personnel available to help customers lug away their purchases.

Nestlé was also found to be extracting water from aquifers in drought-stricken California, 27 years after its permit expired.
The company has around 100 bottled water factories in 34 countries around the world and has been bottling water since 1843.
Bottled water is a crucial commodity in countries with scant access to clean drinking water.
According to Peter Gleick, the author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, the boom of the bottled water industry in the developed world is partly due to deep-rooted fear of drinking tap water.
As bottled water comes with an expiration date, millions of gallons of water become useless every year, and in a ceaseless and vicious cycle, bottled water as companies drill even farther down.
“There is a black hole in relation to the exact impact of leached material,” he says, adding that a plastic bottle does not necessarily need to expire for its chemicals to start leaching.
“A study has been done in Mexico recently about high-temperature water storage and increased leaching of BPA in those [plastic] bottles,” he says.
Although the plastic used in the production of water bottles is highly recyclable, the world’s recycling capacity is stretched, with the majority of bottles ending up in landfills or the oceans.
Under pressure, powerhouse bottled water companies have launched recycling campaigns.
Dr O’Leary says drinking tap water out of a reusable cup is the best alternative to carrying bottled water.

Rick Snyder’s (R) administration stopped delivering free bottled water to Flint in April, citing fiscal concerns, lowered lead levels, and the fact that every household in the city of about 100,000 has been supplied with water filters.
Nor do they replace them as frequently as they should, volunteers told Rewire.News.
Furthermore, there are residents who, for physical reasons or otherwise, are not able to use the filters as they are made to be used,” Pauli said.
For this reason, the Genesee County Medical Society and Genesee County Health Department have recommended that children under 6, pregnant women, and immunocompromised residents continue to use bottled water.” There are good reasons for residents to demand free bottled water as a matter of right, Pauli said.
By then “we anticipate we will have donated approximately 3.2 million bottles of water to the City of Flint and served our communities more than 1,100 gallons of water from our (mobile) Ice Mountain Hydration Station,” said Jason Manshum, community relations manager at Nestlé Waters North America in an email.
Meanwhile, a July 19 report from the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) titled “Management Weaknesses Delayed Response to Flint Water Crisis” found that the EPA failed to intervene earlier and stop the water crisis in Flint.
The church was one of the state’s bottle distribution sites that closed in April, but people still come by and have to be turned away.
It’s full of bacteria and chlorine,” Jones said.
City officials have never tested the water in her home, she said.
“There’s no reason that the state that’s home to 21 percent of the earth’s fresh water should have a community full of people who can’t bathe their children or give them a glass of water at the dinner table,” she said in an email.

The decision will impact more than 400 private wells with emerging contaminant GenX contamination Chemour, a spinoff of DuPont and producer of Teflon, announced it will stop providing bottled water to residents near the company’s Fayetteville, N.C., plant whose well water is contaminated with emerging contaminant GenX below the state’s current provisional health goal, 140 ppt.
Previously, the company had a bottled water pickup site at the plant for residents with GenX drinking water contamination, but moving forward they will deliver bottled water to residents with contaminant levels above the threshold.
According to the Fayetteville Observer, this decision will impact the approximately 400 private wells surrounding the plant with detectable levels of GenX below 140 ppt.
164 private wells have been tested to show levels above 140 ppt and will continue to receive bottled water from Chemours.
The Teflon producer has been under criticism since June 2017 when emerging contaminant GenX was discovered in the Cape Fear River.
GenX is a short-chain polymer that was developed to replace PFAS in the production of items such as non-stick cookware and firefighting foam.
However, much remains unknown regarding the health and environmental impacts of the emerging contaminant.

After a water main break July 31 left the Creekside Mobile Home Park without clean water for days, the Lewisville community has stepped up to make sure residents have something to drink.
A week later, help continues to flow to residents.
The morning after the park lost water, Aug. 1, management requested the city’s help to get water to the residents.
The city contacted the Salvation Army, which passed out cases of bottled water to residents.
Documents obtained by The Lewisville Texan Journal show numerous repeated Texas Commission on Environmental Quality violations by the Creekside system over the past five years.
For Lewisville community members Dealynn Richard and Terry Hayes, one day wasn’t enough.
With the help of donations from the community, Richard said she brought 130 cases the next day.
Richard said she passed out 100 more cases the Monday after that.
“If anyone says anything, what they do is they go around and they start fining.” Richard said she and Hayes were organizing community members to meet off the premises so they can speak freely.
She said park residents who want to be involved, or Lewisville community members who want to donate toward water for park residents, can contact Richard at 214-418-8719, her daughter Rochelle Richard at 214-477-2425 or find Hayes on Facebook.