KATHMANDU, April 23: You may be risking your health, if you think that bottled water is 100 percent safe and using them at homes and offices. The Department of Food Technology and Quality control (DFTQC), under Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD), said that the quality of most of the so-called purified water in capital is questionable. The office, which is responsible for ensuring the quality of food items in the country, has been preparing to file cases against 25 water purifying companies in the capital that have been flagrantly compromising on the quality. The DFTQC, which has its own advanced laboratory to examine food items, had tested samples of purified water collected by its food inspectors from the market. "We have found serious problems in some of the processed drinking water," Jeevan Prabha Lama, director general (DG) of DFTQC, said. She said that coliform bacteria were found in most of samples. Going by the standards, presence of even a single colony forming unit of coliform in 100 ml of water is unacceptable. But some of the processed water selling in the market contained high degree of coliform. Lama said that content of chemicals like iron and ammonia were found at hazardous level in some of the samples. Water processing companies use either tanker water or ground water. "If not processed properly, such water will damage public health," added Lama. Pramod Koirala, spokesperson of DFTQC, said that the office cannot reveal the names of the companies whose products were found to be problematic. He said that the department has sought ministry´s approval to reveal the names of those companies to the media. Water processing companies have been flourishing in the capital in recent years. Over 300 water processing companies have been registered in the capital. The DFTQC said that some of the companies have been operating without registration. "Some even fill water in the bottles of other companies and some have been doing so at their homes," said DG Lama. The DFTQC has prepared separate guidelines to regulate the companies that sell processed water. The DFTQC´s last year report showed that about 66 percent of the processed drinking water available in the market were contaminated with hazardous bacteria and chemicals.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 05:30:27 +0000
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