While most citizens are forced to buy bottled water due to the low quality of ground and piped water, a lot of companies are selling highly contaminated mineral water.
In this regard, a recent report by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has declared 16 mineral water brands in the country as ‘unsafe’ for human consumption.
According to the PCRWR report, samples of 181 mineral water brands were gathered from the markets of 22 cities including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Quetta, Peshawar, and Karachi.
After testing all the samples against 24 water quality parameters, 16 brands turned out to be chemically unsafe which did not meet the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), and Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA).
Following are the mineral water brands which have been declared unsafe by the PCRWR.
- Oxford Pure Water
- Sip Up
- New Buxton
- More Plus
- Icelay
- Pure
- Oxidano
- Nation
- Noble
- Aab-e-Hayat
- Aab-e-Sehat
- Defence
- DOURO
- MINAH
- New AS
- Wateria
Breakdown of Contaminants
Oxford Pure Water, Sip Up, New Buxton, More Plus, Icelay, Pure, Oxidano, Nation, Noble, Aab-e-Hayat, Aab-e-Sehat, Defence, DOURO contained sodium way above the acceptable limit of 50 mg/L set by the PSQCA.
Nation contained arsenic way above the acceptable limit of 10 µg/L. More Plus and Noble contained potassium above the acceptable limit of 10mg/L. Oxidano and Noble contained exceedingly high quantities of total dissolved solids (TDS) and MINAH, Sip Up, New AS, and Wateria contained bacteriological constituents greater than the safe limit.
Consumption of excessive sodium can result in hypertension, arsenic-contaminated water can cause cancer, skin lesions, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, and potassium intake can cause chest tightness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hyperkalemia, shortness of breath, and heart failure.
