NEW DELHI: An alarming 44 per cent of the bottled water samples across the country have failed the government’s quality tests, according to data released by food regulators of several states on Saturday.
In a bid to keep an eye on quality, food safety departments lifted 1,123 samples across the country in 2017-18. Of these, 496 samples failed to meet the quality standards prescribed by the country’s apex food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Government officials attribute this to a lack of clean drinking water. Also, several small bottling plants or water packaging units have mushroomed in most cities. Tushar Trivedi, the founder of ‘bottledwater.org’ said, “Low investment, high demand and high returns have led to unregulated growth ... One can start even in a flat with a small investment of `2-3 lakh.
They don’t have any license and they don’t follow any norms.” One small unlicensed unit could cater to the demand of 2-3 colonies , he added.