Bottled bane: Even govt not sure about quality of packaged water

[karira]

As reported by ENS in expressbuzz.com on 12 October 2008:
Bottled bane: Even govt not sure about quality of packaged water

Bottled bane: Even govt not sure about quality of packaged water

Vadodara, October 11 The next time you buy a bottle of packaged water or even a water pouch at the station, be sure that even the state Government is unaware of the existence of the manufacturing company or of its quality assurance. An RTI application filed by a city based environmental activist has left the ministry scurrying for answers.

With an estimate of 300 local and private companies packaging water pouches and bottles in the state, the process of packaging and distribution is left unmonitored by the government departments. "These companies are taking up their business without any proper monitoring on the packaging. A bottle, which is sold at a price of Rs 10 or 12 in the market is packaged at a very less price," said Rohit Prajapati, a city-based environmental activist.

He added: "The people too are more comfortable buying packaged water due to the lack of trust on the water supplied by the municipal corporation. But earlier researches done by the Centre for Science and Environment found that the packaged water contained pesticides beyond the level of safety. But the whole process goes unmonitored. Incidentally, the ministry of water resources is not even aware of the exact number of water packaging companies or the method of water processing adopted by them."

The RTI was posed on various queries including the department responsible for giving permission to the companies in each district, the regulations guiding the companies and the source from where the companies are pumping the water. The queries also related to the monitoring body responsible for the companies, the turnover of the companies and the state government's benefit out of it and any study undertaken by the government on the processing and distribution of the water.

Prajapati said: "Surprisingly, none of the departments had any answers to any of the questions and admitted that they were not aware of which department should be responsible for the whole process."