Kathmandu, September 5, 2016: Kathmandu Valley has been facing dearth of water for a long time and some water companies have been taking advantage of this scarcity by selling substandard drinking water.
Even if their company motto says that they sell pure water they have been selling impure water in reality to make fast bucks.
The sealed mineral water bottles found in Kathmandu market are impure and unfit to drink. We believe on the quality of these bottled water but most of them have been found to have packed poisonous water.
That means we have been paying money to drink slow poison. The reality of many water companies in Kathmandu is horrendous.
Department of Food Technology and Quality Control has filed case against 15 companies in the previous fiscal for selling substandard water. These companies have been found producing and selling impure and substandard drinking water, Department’s Spokesperson Purna Chandra Wasti informed.
Many water companies have flouted standards fixed by the government. Coliform, Ph, nitrate, mercury and other levels should be maintained up to fixed standard.
But on close monitoring most of the water companies have failed to abide by these levels. This has put customers in double trouble as they have been paying huge money to buy substandard drinking water.
More than 200 water companies have been registered in Kathmandu but most of them are found to have violated standards.
Spokesperson Wasti says that these companies have been found using below par technology, bad distillation process and not changing filters from time to time.
Medical practitioners have warned that consuming substandard water can put human body at risks of serious diseases like diarrhoea, typhoid, jaundice and other water-borne diseases.
There is legal provision of awarding imprisonment from six months to one year and asking to cough up fine from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000 if a company is found selling substandard items. This punishment appears lenient for a serious crime on human health.
Regular government monitoring has shown that 40 percent among mineral water bottles sold in Kathmandu contain impure water. Assessments have shown that bottled and jarred water contains germs that can cause communicable diseases.
By Gajendra Basnet
