Polluted water firms revealed

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

Hürriyet photo

The Ministry of Health will continue to expose the bottled water firms which that are “risking people’s health,” Health Minister Recep Akdağ said yesterday after revealing five such firms last week.

A private broadcaster claimed July 26 that 41 out of 55 plastic carboys from various different water companies had tested positive for bacterial formations similar to those seen in human excrement.

The report, however, did not name the water firms with contaminated plastic carboys as the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Livestock were to intervene in the matter and conduct official examinations on the products.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Health July 27 only five firms’ names were announced as selling “harmful products.” Buzada, Alps, Kervansaray, Yalısu and Erpınar were named as the water brands producing plastic carboys “harmful to human health.” The five firms all are produced and sold only in Istanbul. Contaminated brands produced out of the city have not yet been revealed, but the ministry is expected to make a formal announcement on the issue.

Akdağ said the pollution in the bottled water might come from two different sources.

“If we detect pollution in the water, we take it serious. We exposed some of them already. The second source might be the storages of the selling areas which can also affect the water,” Akdağ said.