While declaring 23 brands of bottled/mineral water unsafe, the government has advised all Ministries and Divisions to procure only PSQCA certified bottled water for official use, it is learnt.
Sources said that Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) laboratories, which were established to examine the quality of water, have also been designated as national focal points, authorised for testing water quality. Its officials have been nominated as inspectors to facilitate their work, in co-ordination with provincial governments.
Sources said that the government had launched national water quality monitoring programme under various PSDP schemes since 2001 to monitor water quality. Some 11,360 samples collected showed widespread chemical and bacteriological contamination in major cities, storage reservoirs, rivers and lakes.
In particular, higher degree contamination was noted in Sargodha, Sialkot, Gujrat, Loralai, Ziarat, Khuzdar, Hyderabad, Karachi, Sukkur and Mardan.
The PCRWR water quality surveys of 94 other towns in February last also confirmed such contamination beyond permissible limits. With a view to ensure provision of safe drinking water, the PCRWR initiated a comprehensive programme to provide research, development and technological support for national efforts launched by the federal government under the directions of the President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
According to sources, public concerns in this regard had generated opportunities that triggered manufacturing and marketing of bottled water. The bottled/mineral water, being a mandatory item, under Act VI of 1996, obliges the manufacturers to comply with the prescribed standards, without exception.
In the above backdrop, sampling/inspections by PCRWR and PSQCA established the following results.
After careful examination of water, PCRWR, a subsidiary of Ministry of Science and Technology, has made obligatory printing of brand/labels in accord with standard 'definition' followed by International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and Federal Drugs and Cosmetics Agency (FDA) USA, sources said.
The government has also initiated measures for upgrading laboratory and analytical infrastructure by PCRWR in accordance with the revised PSQCA standards, besides sharing of results in public domain, through press, electronic media and website etc for mass awareness. Provincial officials were/are sensitised about the situation, periodically and regularly.
Sources said that the Ministry of Science and Technology has submitted a summary to the Cabinet to take stringent measures in this regard.

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Brand Sampled (No)       1999   2001    2003   2004   2005
Total                      41     21      93     22    103
Safe                       31     10      72     10     80
Un-Safe                    10     11      21     12     23
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