How safe is mineral water?

You are never quite sure about the purity of the bottled mineral water that you buy from the market. Although they all make emphatic claims, most of the companies selling mineral water do not follow the prescribed limits of bacteria count, total hardness and calcium hardness.

            How safe is mineral water?

You are never quite sure about the purity of the bottled mineral water that you buy from the market. Although they all make emphatic claims, most of the companies selling mineral water do not follow the prescribed limits of bacteria count, total hardness and calcium hardness.

Recently the license of Bisleris Delhi unit has been cancelled on grounds of quality. BIS certification is now mandatory for bottled water. It involves maintaining certain standards of quality which come from regular check ups, mandatory tests and shop-floor accountability.

A South Delhi ( Lajpat Nagar) based Voluntary Organisation In Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE) conducted the comparative testing on mineral water in 1998 and came out the fact. The organisation carried a comparative testing of 12 brands of mineral waters like Purette, Fountain, Yes, Ganga, Bisleri, Florida, Himalayan, Golden Eagle, Prime, Pure Natural Aqua and Hello. The standard laid down under PFA Act do not prescribe any minimum quantity of such minerals water to qualify as mineral water. However, Bisleri, Golden Eagle, Prime Aqua Natural Pura and Bailley failed to qualify as they were far below the minimum required level of Total Dissolved Soils (TDS), only Himalayan, Fountain, Yes and Purette fulfilled all these required parameters.
As per PFA rules, mineral water is obtained directly from potable natural or drilled sources like springs, artesian well, drilled well or from underground formation and not from public water supply. It is characterised by the contents of certain mineral salts and their relative proportions and the presence of trace elements or other constitutes. Natural mineral water shall be packed in clean, colourless, transparent and temper proof bottles/containers, made of polythene (PE) conforming to IS 1046 or PVC confirming to IS 10148 or IS 10151 or sterile glass bottles suitable for preventive possible adulteration of the water. The packaging material should be sound and should provide appropriate protection from contamination. All packaging material required for immediate use should be stored in a clean and hygienic manner and sold only under BIS marks.
    VOICE, a voluntary organisation has been testing consumer goods since 1983 to enhance consumer awareness among the then rapidly flowering Indian economy. It is member of consumers International (UK) and is recognised and supported by the Government of India. Apart from giving information about the best products available in the market in our monthly magazine Consumer Voice" and website www.consumer-voice.org, it also provides free legal advice on all consumer related issues to the subscribers of the magazine. Not only this, the organisation also guides you on legal matters and make sure that you get your dues. In all these years, the organisation has helped hundreds of consumers and made sure that they have got their moneys worth.