Aqua options

WOULD YOU take a glass, fill it with toxic substances, mix it with the water you think is clean because it is boiled and drink it? Of course not! But that is what most of us would be doing if we were to analyse the drinking water that we get from the taps today.

Getting safe, healthy and odourless drinking water is, soon if not already, a matter of deep concern because it is really difficult to find it from conventional sources. Contamination due to rusty supply lines, seepage of chemical effluents, stagnation in tanks and sumps ... all these have ensured that the water we get is polluted. Boiling it, chlorinating it or even using candle filters are quite ineffective in eliminating worms and toxins.

With good, clean water truly becoming an almost extinct commodity, bottled water is invading the consumer market like never before. In India, the market size is estimated to be in the region of Rs. 1,200 crores with a growth rate of 80 per cent per annum. Popularly known as mineral water, it is not only unsafe (no thanks to improper quality control) but has also nothing to do with purity that the word suggests. Mineral is only a terminology for the bottled substance and is very often more lethal than what the Corporation supplies by way of routine.

From March 2001, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act has been amended bringing bottled packaged water under its purview. According to this, natural mineral water is that which does not undergo any purification process but is bottled directly.

All other bottled water brands which are purified by chlorinating, ozonation, reverse osmosis, demineralisation have to be called packaged drinking water. All have to conform to standards specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

With so many brands flooding the market and confusing reports about some of them not being as clean as they should be, how is a consumer to know which one to use?

Well here is a good option. Aqua Uno, a Bangalore-based bottling plant that has the 20/25 litre options for domestic and office consumption. If one goes by the IS certification it has armed itself with, it is a safe alternative to clean drinking water.

According to the vice president of the company Aloka Sengupta, it is the first brand of packaged drinking water to be granted the IS certification in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

She says, in Bangalore, Aqua Uno is the brand leader in the bulk segment, and adds that with more awareness about the need for safe drinking water and the general consciousness about health, sales are expected to go up three fold over the next six months.

A visit to one of their plants with Kalpana Ashwath and Shaila Bhalero, in charge of the Chennai operations (to cater for the market in Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu) on the way to Mahabalipuram, one discovers the strict adherence to quality control and cleanliness. The water is "sugar free, zero bacteria, low sodium" and goes through a ten-stage treatment and purification process followed by aseptic filling in polycarbonate jars (safer than plastic cans) and pet bottles.

Water is sourced from protected wells and the incoming water is tested for nine physical and chemical parameters every day. In addition, microbiological parameters are tested every six months and pesticide residues and radioactivity are tested every two years. To ensure that quality is maintained, the Bureau of Indian Standards conducts periodic tests. The plant itself is made of stainless steel including the valves and pipelines. Those working there undergo periodic medical checkup, with inoculation for communicable diseases such as typhoid, cholera, etc. There is also a rigorous cleaning and maintenance schedule to ensure hygiene.

For further quality control, the company has its own direct distribution to ensure that there is no chance for tampering and adulteration by middlemen.

Currently, the plant is processing about 5,000 litres of water a day but has the potential to process about 10,000 litres an hour. They are also looking at bringing out the one litre bottles, which will be in the market soon.

Aqua Uno can be obtained for domestic use through these numbers - 4493538, 4493539.

CHITRA MAHESH

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