WHERE THE DEVIL LURKS

The Bureau of Indian Standards has provided standards for both drinking water and mineral water. The problem is that their observation is only voluntary. The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of 1954, whose stipulation is mandatory, has set standards only for mineral water and defines it as water obtained directly from potable natural or drilled sources that contain a substantial amount of non-toxic, health-related mineral salts. For the tests, the Consumer Education Research Society used both the PFA and BIS standards to assess the results and also compared them with internationally accepted norms such as those of the World Health Organisation and the US' Food and Drug Administration. For bottled drinking water, eight brands -- Bisleri (Bangalore), Bisleri (Ghaziabad), Bisleri (Calcutta), Bisleri (Baroda), Bailley (Mumbai), Bailley (Surat), Trupthi (Chennai) and Bisil (Mehsana) -- were selected. For mineral water, five brands -- Golden Eagle (Chennai), Aquaspa (Mumbai), Saiganga (Ahmednagar), Nirantar (Thane) and Yes (Nadiad) -- were chosen. The selection was based on the brand's national or regional popularity. To conform to international standards for such testing, 21 bottles of each brand were purchased and tested in the cers laboratory against "analytical" and "sensory" parameters as well as for "microbiological" contamination. Here are the findings.

ANY UFO SIGHTED?

The Standard: It is jocularly called the UFO (Unidentified Floating Object) test. The PFA rule on mineral water is that it must be "free from dirt, foreign matter or any other ingredients injurious to health" and has to be packed in clean and sterile containers. As the PFA has no rules for bottled drinking water, for the tests cers used the yardstick for mineral water. Each bottle was scrutinised for visible foreign particles, shaken and checked again for residual matter.

Test results: Floating particles were observed in five out of eight brands of drinking water tested, and three out of five brands of mineral water. Only three brands of drinking water -- Bailley (Mumbai), Bailley (Surat) and Bisleri (Baroda) -- and two brands of mineral water, Yes and Saiganga, passed this test. Out of the 21 bottles of each brand tested, in the drinking water category floating particles were found in the following: nine bottles of Bisleri (Calcutta); eight bottles of Bisleri (Bangalore); four bottles of Trupthi; two bottles of Bisil; one bottle of Bisleri (Ghaziabad). Among the mineral water brands, particles were found in 19 bottles of Nirantar, eight bottles of Golden Eagle and six bottles of Aquaspa.

Comments: Further tests on the foreign particles seen were not done because the cers says the brands failed on the first count itself. It did not matter whether these particles contained substances that were harmful or not because the stipulation is that foreign matter of any kind should be absent. And the number of bottles having such contamination is cause for serious concern.

IS THIS MINERAL WATER?

The standard: All water found in natural sources does contain minerals such as magnesium, calcium, sodium and other salts which in the right mix add taste and have nutritional value. In the US, the FDA rules stipulate that to qualify as mineral water it has to contain a minimum of 250 mg per litre (mg/l) of such Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) as these are classified. In India, the PFA Act and BIS only mention the maximum as 1,500 mg/l and do not specify a minimum.

Results: In the eight brands of drinking water TDS ranged from 43 to 299 mg/l. And for the five brands of mineral water the range was from 70 mg/l to 276 mg/l. In the absence of a minimum requirement for TDS, in India all the brands passed the test. But if US norms were applied, only Golden Eagle (276 mg/l) and Yes (270 mg/l) would qualify among the mineral water brands. And in the drinking water brands, only Trupthi (299 mg/l) qualifies.

Comments: If it is any consolation, internationally too the percentage of brands that conform to mineral water standards is found to be low. In India, as in most developing countries, there is a flip side to the problem. Water supplied by municipalities are rarely distilled to bring down TDS to safe levels. An excess of such minerals is known to be harmful to the body. The key is to find a source with a well-balanced mix because international standards prescribe that it should be a natural produce without any artificial addition or subtraction of dissolved salts in it. The FDA also specifies that bottles should display on their labels definite particulars of the source of the water and the percentages or weights of the salts and minerals present in it. This is something that none of the Indian brands that were tested had done.

ARE THEY GERM FREE?

The standard: Contaminated drinking water is the biggest health threat. The main culprits are micro-organisms found in water such as salmonella, E-coli, faecal streptococci, v. cholera and shigella that cause a range of illnesses such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery and various types of gastro-enteritis. Both the PFA Act and BIS state that the water must be completely free of these bacteria.

Results: The good news: all the brands tested were free from the pathogenic micro-organisms that cause disease. The bad news: none of the brands was "bacteria free" as claimed by some of them. They did have some but these were not among the list the PFA Act had classified as disease causing.

Comments: Though the tests absolved the bottlers, they cannot whoop. The requirement is that the water should be completely bacteria free if the methods of purification follow the exacting standards laid down.

HEAVY METALS: HOW BAD?

The standard: Metals like iron, zinc, chromium, manganese and copper are needed by the body, but only in small amounts. Others such as lead, mercury, arsenic, aluminium and barium are a no-no. Lead poisoning could lead to kidney failure among other things. Arsenic causes a range of disorders and is even carcinogenic. Mercury can cause neurological complications and birth deformities. Excess aluminium can lead to dementia. Both the PFA and BIS lay down standards for all these metals.

Results: While most of the brands were in the clear and had levels of such metals well below the norms, two of them failed. Three batches of Yes (Nadiad) had an arsenic content ranging from 0.1 to 0.06 mg/l -- much higher than the PFA norm of 0.05 mg/l. And a batch of Bailley (Surat) had an aluminium content of 0.2 mg/l, far in excess of the PFA standard of 0.03 mg/l. Bisleri (Ghaziabad) with 0.02 mg/l of aluminium was a borderline case.

Comments: The findings that two brands had metals like aluminium and arsenic in excess of standards is worrying. It calls for strict monitoring by health authorities.

CERS will carry the full report in the Jan issue of its magazine Insight. For a free copy fax it at 079 7489947 or Email: cerc@ad1.vsnl.net.in

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