ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) on Tuesday declared 11 mineral water brands as unsafe for consumption due to chemical and microbiological contamination.
PCRWR compiled a report for the quarter from October to December-2016 after collecting 78 samples of mineral water brands from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Quetta, Peshawar, Muzaffarabad Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan and Lahore.
According to the report, out of these 11 unsafe brands, seven brands titled as Well Care, Lite Aqua, New Premier, Royal Blue, Aqua Safe, Aqua Drink Water and Rahat had comparatively high levels of Arsenic ranging from 12-34 ppb than PSQCA water quality standard for arsenic (10 ppb).
The excessive level of arsenic can cause various types of skin diseases, diabetes, kidney diseases, hypertension, heart diseases birth defects, black foot diseases and multiple types of cancers.
High-level of sodium ranging from 658-165 ppb was found in four brands named Well Care, NG Fresh Water, Oslo and New Premier which exceeded quantity set by PSQCA i.e. 50 ppb.
One brand, Aab-e-Khoob, was found to be unsafe due to microbiological contamination which may cause Cholera, Diarrhea, Dysentery, Hepatitis, Typhoid etc.
