CEBU, Philippines – Councilor Arsenio Pacaña is pushing for a resolution that asks health officials to strictly monitor and to conduct regular testing of bottled water being sold by the private water refilling stations because of reports that some of these products are not clean.
Pacaña said there is really a need to protect the health and welfare of the consumers by way of ensuring that the bottled water sold by the private water refilling stations is fit for human consumption.
The World Health Organizations (WHO) reported that there are about 3.4 million people die every year worldwide due to water-related diseases and about one million Filipinos get sick with water-borne diseases yearly caused by diarrhea, amoebiasis and cholera.
Because of environmental concerns, Pacaña said many people no longer drink water straight from the faucet and despite the economic crisis, they are forced to buy and use the bottled water that also encouraged other people to engage in this kind of business.
“Despite the economic situation, the consuming public were forced to buy the products of the various water refilling stations with the assumption that it is of superior quality than ordinary tap water and therefore safe for drinking,” he said.
He believed that since the recycled bottles or plastic containers are refilled with water by the water refilling stations, the reports that he received is that there are some personnel of the refilling stations that will no longer clean the bottle, but instead just fill them with water.
“There is a tendency for water refilling stations to cut cost by not changing the filtration system even if it has reached its maximum recycling capacity of the tendency not to use anti-bacterial agents to clean bottled water containers or receptacles,” the councilor added. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB (THE FREEMAN)