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NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Take water scandal seriously

Editorials
The collapse of water reticulation systems in urban centres has opened the floodgates for unscrupulous people to sell bottled water that could pose serious health hazards to unsuspecting Zimbabweans.

The collapse of water reticulation systems in urban centres has opened the floodgates for unscrupulous people to sell bottled water that could pose serious health hazards to unsuspecting Zimbabweans.

A number of bottle brands have flooded the market over the years especially in Harare where one can drink tap water at their own risk. Unfortunately for Zimbabweans, resorting to bottled water could turn out to be a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

The revelations by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) earlier this week that most of the water brands sold at supermarkets were unsafe for human consumption did not come as a surprise.

Mass production is always at the expense of quality.

EMA director-general Mutsa Chasi told a parliamentary committee that three years ago, they picked different brands of bottled water for testing and the results were shocking.

Chasi said most of the brands were bottled underground water especially from Manicaland, which contained fecal matter.

Of the 13 brands that were tested, only Schweppes had no fecal matter, it was revealed. The Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) also disclosed at the same parliamentary hearing that only 11 out of about 30 brands of bottled water sold in the country are registered. Registration with SAZ is voluntary and the companies that supply the water can choose not to register to avoid being subjected to the minimum standards.

There is a requirement that the companies must register with the Food Safety Advisory Board (FSAB), which is expected to enforce standards. But clearly for one reason or another, the FSAB has no capacity to police the industry and we are at the mercy of business charlatans who prioritise profits at the expense of people’s health.

Zimbabweans have been victims of water-borne diseases that used to afflict people in medieval times such as cholera because of the collapse of infrastructure for the supply of running water.

Typhoid and diarrhoea outbreaks are now common in cities and people felt they were safer drinking bottled water than that from their taps.

The disclosures by SAZ and EMA must be taken seriously because this is a matter of life and death.

The relevant authorities must come up with stronger policies to monitor bottled water suppliers and punish defaulters.

The FSAB and EMA must also be capacitated to carry out regular monitoring of bottled water to ensure that unapproved water does not find its way to the consumers through clandestine means, and that suppliers that do not meet standards are pushed out of business. The government has a responsibility to protect consumers from these unscrupulous suppliers.

It is also time municipalities took the rehabilitation of their water infrastructure seriously if the demand for bottled water is to be curbed because it is clear that it is not healthy for ordinary consumers.