RR files Bill to regulate sale of bottled water

By Fidel Gumawid, MAS-PRID

Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez (2nd District, Cagayan de Oro) has filed a bill establishing quality standards for mineral, carbonated and bottled water to ensure that packaged drinking water sold to consumers are clean and safe to drink.
Rodriguez said House Bill 2606 known as the "Safe Bottled Water Act", sets up the criteria in determining the adequacy as well as the protection of "approved sources" of bottled water.
Under the bill, the director of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) shall establish a monitoring program as stringent as that used for public water supplies to provide yearly testing and monitoring of unregulated contaminants, and undertake analysis or testing of bottled water sold in the market.
In filing the measure, Rodriguez said that due to environmental issues and other concerns, people now do not dare to drink water from the faucet.
As a result, Rodriguez said, bottled water consumption in recent years has increased tremendously as thousands of households have opted to use it as their source of potable water.
With the demand for safe drinking water increasing, refilling stations have now proliferated in various parts, and in almost all cities and municipalities of the country.
"Consumers pay a premium price for bottled water because they assume that it is of superior quality," Rodriguez said.
However, Rodriguez expressed concern that bottled water sold in the market may not be actually of superior quality even if bottled water producers claim otherwise.
This is because the bottled water industry in the country is not yet regulated, Rodriguez said.