The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) conducted a drive against sales of ‘filtered’ water jars without its approval at Motijheel and Paltan neighbourhoods in Dhaka on Monday.
A mobile court led by BSTI Executive Magistrate Nazma Siddiqa found 10 companies guilty of supplying water jars without valid licences from the BSTI.
The mobile court destroyed 600 water jars and seized six vans carrying those to different offices.
Only one out of the 10 companies, Everest Drinking Water, received BSTI approval but it too did not purify the substance duly, said BSTI Assistant Director Arafat Hossain Sarker.
In December last year, a group of researchers at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) studied the level of minerals in jars and bottled water in Dhaka.
The level of coliform bacteria in the samples collected from many areas was found significantly high in the research.
BARC Director Monirul Islam, who headed the research, said that level of coliforms should be zero in drinkable water, according to bdnews24.
According to the researchers, BSTI has set the standards of water commercially supplied for drinking, but the business of contaminated water is continuing due to lack of regulation.
Monirul said faecal coliforms mix with water through leaks in lines of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA).
“This water is sold in jars without or after partial filtering. So the germs remain in the water,” he said.
The only way to free WASA water from germ is to boil it, according to him.