Ministry Rethinking On New Bottled Water Norms

EH&C Staff - New Delhi

Close to four months after the pesticide-residue issue caused ripples in the Rs 1,000 crore packaged water segment - it still seems to be all quiet on the bottled water front.

Given that the union health ministry had hoped to bring in the new norms by April 1 - the ensuing silence from the ministry has raised doubts in industry circles on whether the ministry is having a rethink on the issue.

The draft notification, indicating the revised norms for pesticides, had been issued in line with the proposed deadline and the industry’s reaction time was quick, though the response was rather lukewarm. Subsequently, the issue went back to the health ministry and now all eyes are on the union health minister’s office for a final call on the issue.

“It does look like the ministry is having a rethink on the issue, given the fact that the European norms for bottled water have not been implemented in the European Union (EU). The guidelines are to be implemented in the EU only by end 2003 and under extraordinary circumstances, the EU member states may be allowed time extension before they adopt the guidelines. Further, manufacturers in this region have been given about five years’ time to scale up to these stringent standards. The minister would be taking a hard look at the international scenario, the different norms and implications on other food-products, before endorsing the final norms,” pointed out a ministry source.

Meanwhile, the industry opines that this reality check was much needed. “When the controversy broke in February, the ministries concerned reacted in haste and all the bottled water companies were painted black, despite adhering to the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) norms and bearing the mandatory ISI mark. What the government overlooked was whether there was really a need to upgrade the norms and more important, whether the monitoring authorities had laboratories that were technically equipped to handle such specific testing.”

More confusion would emerge if the testing labs are ill equipped and different labs give different results on the same sample of water. And then, there is also the issue of pesticide content in other food products such as milk, juices and other agro-based products.

“It would take time to undo the damage of the extensive use of pesticides in agriculture and any decision on this account would have to be holistic,” said an industry source.

In fact, industry representatives observe that realisation has probably dawned on the ministry that the existing standards are ‘not alarming’ and all that was possibly required, was some ‘tightening’.