Most packaged water not safe for drinking -SON

The head of theLagos State office ofthe Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mrs Tosan Akin-Akosile, has disclosed that a large quantity of the packaged water being produced in the country is not fit and safe for drinking.She stated this in Lagos at the launch of 'Pureit,' an advanced water purifier produced by Unilever Nigeria Plc.According to her, the experience of SON on the field had revealed that most of the sachet and bottled water produced in Nigeria did not satisfy the parameters used in ascertaining the quality of water.She explained: 'We have over 50 parameters used in determining the quality of water but most of these companies only satisfy three out of these parameters. Some of these water producing companies operate from their sitting rooms. The few of them that we cover tell us during our inspection that they cannot establish laboratories.'Bottled water and sachet water are the same. This is what we saw on the field. We are thinking of how to regulate this. But with the present situation in the country, the government cannot do anything on the matter,' she stated.A consultant physician at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr Rita Oladele, who delivered a lecture on the occasion, also expressed concern over the quality of packaged water in Nigeria, especially for nursing mothers who sometimes relied on them for their babies.
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