The Daily Star February 03, 2003 


      Most bottled water unsafe, say finds



      Staff Correspondent


      Most of the bottled drinking water in the market is unsafe, as they do not 
      conform to the international safe drinking water protocol.
      The level of inorganic elements declared in the label of some bottles 
      exceeded the recommended level for human consumption. For instance, sodium 
      was found in excess, which may lead to high blood pressure.
      More than half the bottles carried information about minerals and others 
      constituents which were not well founded.
      A two-year research on quality of commercially available bottled water 
      revealed.
      The researchers, however, did not disclose the brand names of the bottled 
      water, certified mostly by the Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute 
      (BSTI), the official authority to certify safety of the products.
      They made public the finds at a seminar in the city yesterday titled, 
      "Study on the quality of commercially available bottled water in 
      Bangladesh". The Bangladesh Academy of Sciences organised the seminar.
      Plasma Plus, an application research laboratory, carried out the water 
      sample analysis on 58 brands of drinking water bottles including four 
      imported brands labelled as mineral water. 
      K M Mostafa Anwar and Mala Khan of Plasma Plus who carried out the 
      research presented the findings at the auditorium of Bangladesh Atomic 
      Energy Commission (BAEC).
      They found the source of water bottled for marketing was mostly ground 
      water while one of the brands had used water supplied by the Dhaka Water 
      Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA).
      The findings revealed that consumer rights are not protected and the 
      practices the manufacturers follow to control the quality of drinking 
      water are largely flawed.
      Besides, severe inconsistency and errors exist in the specifications 
      declared on the labels of the bottles. 
      About half of the contents specified on the labels of the bottles, 
      analysed in laboratory under strict quality assurance and quality control 
      (QAQC), were found wrong.
      The study also showed 80 per cent of the manufacturers did not mention 
      address or location of their plants as required by the regulation. Some of 
      those addresses were also found to be false.
      The researchers though did not mention whether any measures were taken to 
      prohibit further production or marketing of such bottled water. 
      The Bangladesh Academy of Sciences in a draft recommendation said the 
      government should take emergency measures to have a 'safe water act' 
      within which a safe water regulatory body would be formed to reduce public 
      health hazards.
      It also recommended introduction of a total quality management system. 
      They suggested forming a reference laboratory for quality assurance and 
      quality control (QAQC) to validate test data produced by reliable 
      laboratories.
      National Professor Nurul Islam of the University of Science and 
      Technology, Chittagong, Dr Shamsher Ali, vice-chancellor of South East 
      University, Dr M Khaliquzzaman and Prof. Kamal Uddin spoke in the seminar.



      Ensure arsenic free Water: Mannan



      BSS, Dhaka


      LGRD and Co-operatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan yesterday directed 
      the authorities concerned to take urgent measures to ensure supply of 
      arsenic free drinking water within the next four years in the country.
      The LGRD minister was presiding over a discussion organised by the Public 
      Health Engineering Department (PHED) on "Water supply in rural areas and 
      sewerage programme" in the ministry.
      He also asked the officials of the PHED to make all newly set up 
      tube-wells arsenic free and take steps to supply pure surface water 
      through pipelines.
      Referring to setting up of sanitary latrines in rural areas, Mannan 
      Bhuiyan asked the officials to involve Upazila Parishad chairmen and 
      members in preparing a list of the poor for providing them with sanitary 
      latrines with the government subsidy.
      LGRD Secretary AYBI Siddique, Chief Engineer of the PHED Farid Uddin Ahmed 
      and other senior officials attended the discussion.