adminThe decision was arrived at as the recently introduced water shedding has forced more residents to turn to bottled water, with taps running dry for 48 hours every week.
A number of supermarkets in the city have recorded increased sales of bottled water despite the cold weather.
In an interview yesterday, the city’s Mayor, Councillor Thaba Moyo, said council’s health inspectorate will be taking random samples of water from supermarket shelves for testing.
“With the scarce water situation, some people may turn to bottled water thinking that it is of good bio-chemical quality. Council will be out in full force to ensure the water meets prescribed standards for human consumption. We are working with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to ensure unscrupulous businesspeople do not take advantage of residents,” said Clr Moyo.
He said it was the responsibility of the city fathers to ensure that diseases would not be introduced into the city through unhygienic products.
“We are not compromising on this. We shall not hesitate to have poor quality products banned. For minor deviations from expected quality, we shall recommend that the manufacturer fix the problems and if they fail, they shall also be banned,” he said.
In separate interviews, a number of supermarkets in the city said the sales of bottled water had risen.
“Normally, at this time of the year, the sales figures are low. However, recently, more people have been buying bottled water. Our sales are almost equal to the summer sales when we would be experiencing high temperatures. We think it is due to water shedding,” said a merchandiser at OK Supermarket.
An employee at TM Supermarket said residents did not trust the “rusty” water that normally comes out of taps soon after water has been turned on following water shedding.
The employee said that has made residents turn to bottled water.
Last year, the Government banned 40 water bottling firms in the country after the products failed to meet quality standards.
Only 12 companies — Schweppes Zimbabwe Limited, Tanganda Tea Company Ltd, Century Ice, ZLG, Brackenridge t/a Kanyerere Investment, Reichmark, Aqua crystal, Chromopak Investments, Somerby, Chilruf t/a Springvale, Mukati Investments and Blester Marketing — were eventually certified by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.
The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, as provided for by the Public Health Act and the Food and Food Standards Act, delegates powers to municipal authorities to enforce food laws and regulations in their areas of jurisdiction.
According to a report that was released at the time, some of the companies had premises that did not meet the basic minimum hygienic requirements while others were not bottling water at the source as required.
Although most suppliers indicate the mineral elements content on the label, the quality of water is not just about mineral elements, but also the micro-biological safety of the water, among other quality requirements.
Online Reporter