UNB, Dhaka :
The sale of polluted water in containers in different parts of the country has turned into a booming business for lack of monitoring and control by the authorities concerned posing a serious health hazard to consumers.
“So-called mineral water supplied to houses and offices in jars are not tested. In most cases, the water is filled in the jars right away from the tap and sometimes in the empty bottles of some of the well-known mineral bottle brands,” alleges Samia Hossain, a house owner in the city’s Moghbazar area.
General Secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Advocate Humayun Kabir told UNB that the government agencies concerned, including Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI), cannot play their due role in stopping the marketing of contaminated jar water.
Mentioning that untreated jar water could be the source of deadly diseases, he said a large number of people suffer from various waterborne diseases and take treatment at different hospitals, including ICCDR’B every year due to drinking of jar water produced in different unauthoriesed water plants.
He also suggested that different agencies like city corporations, Department of Environment (DoE), government-run water supplying authorities reinforce monitoring to stop the production of unsafe jar water and urged the government to immediately take effective measures in this regard.
As his attention was drawn to the matter, BSTI director Kamal Prasad Das said it is possible to stop the production of polluted jar water as per the existing laws.
He, however, said BSTI cannot alone stop the production and marketing of jar-water business.
Apart from obtaining licenses from BSTI, authorities concerned have to receive trade licenses from Dhaka City Corporation, approval from Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) to install deep tube-wells and premium license from the Directorate of Health, he mentioned.
The BSTI director stressed that all the agencies concerned have to play their respective roles so that the sale of unsafe jar water cannot cause public health hazards. He also asked the consumers to check out BSTI logo on the containers of mineral water before going for buying it.
Asked whether manpower shortage is hampering their drives against unauthorised traders of jar water and the water plants producing such water, the BSTI director answered in the affirmative and said there is no BSTI lab in some districts.
He also suggested setting up BSTI offices at district and upazila levels to strengthen its drives against substandard products, including the widespread sale of water produced in illegal water plants.
Replying to a query, Kamal Prasad said they have issued licenses to 184 private water-supplying firms till date out of which 147 were given to water plants in Dhaka, 19 in Chittagong, 10 in Khulna, five in Rajshahi, two in Barisal and one in Sylhet.
The sale of polluted water in containers in different parts of the country has turned into a booming business for lack of monitoring and control by the authorities concerned posing a serious health hazard to consumers.
“So-called mineral water supplied to houses and offices in jars are not tested. In most cases, the water is filled in the jars right away from the tap and sometimes in the empty bottles of some of the well-known mineral bottle brands,” alleges Samia Hossain, a house owner in the city’s Moghbazar area.
General Secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Advocate Humayun Kabir told UNB that the government agencies concerned, including Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI), cannot play their due role in stopping the marketing of contaminated jar water.
Mentioning that untreated jar water could be the source of deadly diseases, he said a large number of people suffer from various waterborne diseases and take treatment at different hospitals, including ICCDR’B every year due to drinking of jar water produced in different unauthoriesed water plants.
He also suggested that different agencies like city corporations, Department of Environment (DoE), government-run water supplying authorities reinforce monitoring to stop the production of unsafe jar water and urged the government to immediately take effective measures in this regard.
As his attention was drawn to the matter, BSTI director Kamal Prasad Das said it is possible to stop the production of polluted jar water as per the existing laws.
He, however, said BSTI cannot alone stop the production and marketing of jar-water business.
Apart from obtaining licenses from BSTI, authorities concerned have to receive trade licenses from Dhaka City Corporation, approval from Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) to install deep tube-wells and premium license from the Directorate of Health, he mentioned.
The BSTI director stressed that all the agencies concerned have to play their respective roles so that the sale of unsafe jar water cannot cause public health hazards. He also asked the consumers to check out BSTI logo on the containers of mineral water before going for buying it.
Asked whether manpower shortage is hampering their drives against unauthorised traders of jar water and the water plants producing such water, the BSTI director answered in the affirmative and said there is no BSTI lab in some districts.
He also suggested setting up BSTI offices at district and upazila levels to strengthen its drives against substandard products, including the widespread sale of water produced in illegal water plants.
Replying to a query, Kamal Prasad said they have issued licenses to 184 private water-supplying firms till date out of which 147 were given to water plants in Dhaka, 19 in Chittagong, 10 in Khulna, five in Rajshahi, two in Barisal and one in Sylhet.
