THERE WAS A time in the recently liberalised past when people didn’t quite know how to refer to a new product called drinking water. They would say ‘bottled water’ and ‘mineral water’ to freely refer to one or the other kind of water, perhaps meaning the same one. It used to be confusing. People were not used to drinking water that had to be bought. People were getting used to paying money to drink water. Paying more money for their water than they did for milk everyday.

Now India is wholeheartedly disinvesting, further liberalising. Now, people don’t say ‘bottled water’ or ‘mineral water’. These distinc­tions have become superfluous. Now, people simply ask for ‘water’.

Actually technical terms for 2 hotly-selling products - the difference lies in product specifications - manufactured by the private sector, packaged drinking water (PDW) is nothing but ordinary water treated to certain quality standards, and packaged natural mineral water (PNMW) is that which is bottled at the source without any treatment. Clean spring water, in other words. Now these terms have completely fused, incorporated into people’s vocabulary and lives.

How then should one react if told that this bottled water, supposedly cleaned for consumption, could contain deadly pesticide residues? One should react with disbelief and horror. Well, go ahead and do exactly that. For bottled water does contain pesticide residues. All kinds of bottled water, whether national (like Bisleri), or multinational (like Kinley). In most, the pesticide residues are above what would be acceptable limits.

Are citizens being fooled into thinking that their bottled water, sold by companies as the healthy and hygienic drink, is pure and drinkable?

Between July and December 2002, the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory (PML) of the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) analysed 17 different brands of PDW and PNMW commonly sold in areas that fall within the national capital region of Delhi. The 34 bottles of PWD/PNMW so collected included a host of not-so-popular brands - Volga, Prime, Paras among others - and also the top five brands in the packaged water segment of the beverage market: Bisleri, manufactured by the Parle group; Bailley, also manufactured by Pa Pure Life, a Nestle product; Aquafina, by Pepsico; and Kinley, from Coca Cola. Care was taken to ensure that two bottles of the same brand were bought from the same area. Minscot, a brand popular brand in adjoining Gurgoan was also included, as was Aquaplus, sold mainly at railway stations. Once the 34 ‘samples’ were procured, the PML began its analysis. The samples were tested to see if they contained pesticides. The tests were for two kinds of pesticide: organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides

Results
Pesticide residues were found in the samples, except the imported Evian. The pesticides residues found were of the deadliest kind. Among organochlorines, gamma-Hexachlorocyclohexane (ã- HCH,or lindane) and DDT were the most prevalent. Among organophosphorous pesticides, Malathion and Chlorpyrifos were most common.

What kind of water?
There is no regulation that the bottled water industry must be located in ‘clean’ zones. Currently, manufacturing plants are located in the dirtiest industrial estates, or rear up in the midst of agricultural fields. For instance Volga, manufactured by Sai Durga Aqua Minerals, was located in Udyog Kunj Dasna Industrial area of Ghaziabad, bang in the middle of dirty industries and pesticide-drenched fields.

Most companies use borewells to pump out water from the ground. The plants also draw exorbitant amounts of groundwater: 10,000 to 30,000 litres per hour.

Some raw water samples collected from the plants revealed the presence of organochlorines such as endosulphan and dieldrin, and organophosphorous pesticides such as dimethoate and methyl parathion. Interestingly, all the source water samples threw up lindane, DDT and malathion and chlorpyrifos. In other words, the source water poison profile matched the bottled water poison profile.

The correlation is truly amazing. It clearly shows the source of the pesticide residues is the polluted groundwater used to manufacture the bottled water.

What kind of clean-up?
All bottled water plants work towards a single goal: purify the raw water. Different companies use a range of purification methods. To remove micro organisms, two techniques are common: chemical disinfection and UV light (irradiation). Disinfectants such as chlorine (most common), chloramines, ozone and chlorine dioxide bump off pathogens in raw water. UV light irradiated into the water is effective against various kinds of bacteria and virus.

These plants use what is called membrane technology. Essentially, this involves filtering the water by using mem­branes with ultra-small pores. Microfiltration removes most of the fine suspended solids and almost all bacteria and proto­zoa. Ultrafiltration can block even viruses. While nanofiltra­tion can remove insecticides and herbicides, it is costly and rarely used. Reverse osmosis membranes are even more effec­tive. Yet another process companies use is activated charcoal adsorption; it is effective in removing organic pesticides, but not heavy metals.

Surprisingly, these methods are the recommended tech­nologies to rid raw water of pesticides. Why then did the PML find pesticide residues? There can be only two answers. Either the manufacturers do not use the treatment process effecti­vely, or only a part of the raw water is treated. Possibly, the entire raw water is not subjected to reverse osmosis, or only a part of it is and then mixed with pre-treated water. It seems log­ical. There are standards for mineral content in water but if all the water is passed through reverse osmosis, then the minerals would also get removed. Therefore, to meet the mineral con­tent specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for packaged drinking water, it is possible that a bypass stream of filtered raw water is mixed in the end of the process.

In any case, it is obvious that manufacturers are sitting back and letting the public bankroll them. It is equally obvious that the making of bottled water is a badly regulated process.

Death by Ignorance
Branded bottled water, say industry monitors, is the fastest growing industry in the beverage sector. For the past three years, market growth rate has been an unimaginable 80 per cent plus. People today really believe the bottled water they drink is safe.

It is not. This is a market whose growth is predicated upon a spectacular failure: the inability of the government to pro­vide drinking water. This is a market whose growth is predi­cated upon widespread fear: bottled water has waltzed in where municipal water supply - source of gastrointestinal disorders and water-borne diseases - could no longer dare to two-step. This is a market actually predicated upon what can only be called death by ignorance. Tired of illness, the citizen became a consumer willing to pay for water said to be pure, water that guaranteed health. The transformation in habit had an aura of inevitability to it: the citizen had to turn to bottled water; there was no choice.

It would be trite - and ethically ineffective - to blame private companies for selling up to 5 pesticide residues per gulp. The market is where profits are to be made, market shares to be fought over, advertising strategies that play upon human sentiments to be disseminated. Why should they care if their regulators - the government, the ministry of health and family welfare, the BIS surprise-inspector - are satisfied with what is served over the counter as clean water?

Courtesy: Down to Earth: Science and Environment Fortnightly

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