PCRWR announces seven hazardous brands of mineral water

Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) announced seven hazardous brands of Mineral water for human consumption out of 61 samples collected from various cities as per its quarterly report (January to March).

PCRWR announces seven hazardous brands of mineral waterThe government through Ministry of Science and Technology has allocated the task to PCRWR for quarterly monitoring of bottled/mineral water brands and announced the results in the best interest of public health.

PCRWR said in a issued statement that 61 samples of Mineral/Bottled water brands were collected from Tando Jam, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Islamabad, Muzaffarabad, Multan and Karachi for the last quarter (January to March, 2020).

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

Three of them (i.e. NFS, Super Natural and Hibba) were found to be hazardous due to presence of excessive levels of sodium ranging from 66-86 mg/L than PSQCA bottled water quality standard for sodium (50 mg/L) and two brands (i.e. Dropice and AQUALUS) were found unsafe due to lower level of pH (6.09-6.16).

Whereas two brands (i.e. Aqua Royals and Aqua Natural) were found to be unsafe due to bacterial contamination.

The detailed report regarding hazardous brands of Mineral water is available on PCRWR website.

Official PCRWR added that it was found that 45 per cent of infant deaths have been attributed to diarrhea and about 60 per cent to overall infectious waterborne diseases across the country.