17 brands of bottled water declared unsafe

Islamabad : Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) in its quarterly water monitoring report issued on Saturday declared 17 brands of mineral/bottled water as unsafe for human consumption.

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 public interest.

For the last quarter (January to March, 2022), 170 samples of Mineral/Bottled water brands were collected from 21 cities.

Ten brands (City Spring, Aab-e-Noor, ATCO, Doctor, VOLVO Water, Evians Safe Life, Ab-e- Haram, Blue Plus, Blue Ice, ALPHA) were found to be unsafe due to presence of higher levels of sodium, one brand (i.e. Nation Pure Water) was found unsafe due to presence of high level of Arsenic, two brands (IMPERIAL, More Plus) were found unsafe due to presence of high level of Potassium than the permissible limit, while, five brands (Hi-Fresh, Supreme Natural, DYLAN Natural, Lasani, Blue Ice) were found microbiologically contaminated and thus were unsafe for drinking purpose.