Over 50pc bottled water contaminated

KATHMANDU, April 3: A report prepared by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) shows that more than 50 percent of bottled water available in the market is contaminated with coliform bacteria.

Presence of even a single colony forming unit of coliform in every 100 ml of water is unacceptable going by quality standards. But bottled water selling in the market contains hundreds of times more coliform.


“Many of the analyzed processed water showed the presence of more than 300 colony forming units of bacteria in 100 ml samples,” the report of NAST revealed.
Consumption of water contaminated with coliform causes health complications like morbidity, stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea.

The alarming report of the NAST shows that the so called purified water available in the market is not safe for consumption.

The autonomous apex body that promotes science and technology in the country revealed 52% of water samples collected from the markets have been found contaminated with coliform bacteria.

NAST conducted the bacteriological investigation on quality of processed drinking water sold in Kathmandu in 2009 and in 20010 in four different phases.

Processed drinking water samples were collected periodically and 30 bottles of different available brands in the markets were purchased in every period. Samples of 12 different commercial brands of 124 processed water samples were analyzed in a year. NAST says random sampling was adopted to collect the samples. All the processed drinking water samples were immediately transported to the environmental and climate study for bacteriological analysis.

Atmos, Alone, Aqua Care, Aqua Hundred, Aqua Smile, Aqua clinic, Bailley, Royal Land, Multipure, Saphapani, and Thirst ta Yechula brands were included in the study. Of the 120 samples, 62 samples were found to have fecal contamination which is also the indicator of coliform bacteria.

The report of NAST says the increasing trend of contamination indicates an impending public health problem.

In the report, NAST has recommended continuation of coliform monitoring in the processed water for the future studies. “Efficient quality control and monitoring mechanism should be adopted by authorities promptly,” NAST suggests.

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