PCRWR declares seven mineral water brands unsafe

Islamabad: Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) Tuesday declared seven brands of Mineral water unsafe for human consumption out of 61 samples collected from different cities as per its quarterly report (January to March) issued today.

The government through Ministry of Science and Technology has designated the task to PCRWR for quarterly monitoring of bottled/mineral water brands and publicize the results in the best interest of public health.

For the last quarter (January to March, 2020), 61 samples of Mineral/Bottled water brands were collected from Tando Jam, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Islamabad, Muzaffarabad, Multan and Karachi, said a news release issued here. Comparison of test results with permissible limits of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has revealed that seven brands were found unsafe for human consumption.

Three of them (i.e. NFS, Super Natural and Hibba) were found to be unsafe 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 is available on PCRWR website www.pcrwr.gov.pk .