mumbai the state government on thursday directed the food and drugs authority fda to conduct laboratory tests on all brands of bottled water following a report showing that some contained traces of pesticide in excess of european union standards there are 83 bottling plants in maharashtra of which 13 are located in mumbai the union government has already ordered its own investigation after tests conducted on 13 popular brands of bottled water in mumbai and delhi by the delhibased centre for science and environments pollution monitoring laboratory in january 2003 revealed the presence of pesticide residues however state excise and food and drugs department minister anil deshmukh on thursday said the state cannot stop the sale of bottled water until the union government prescribes fresh guidelines on the standards for bottled drinking water presently the contents of the bottled water sold in the market meet the all standards prescribed in the prevention of food adulteration actwe cannot stop the sale of these brands unless there are specific directives from the centre mr deshmukh said at a press conference in mantralaya on thursday he said the popular brands also meet the guidelines set by the bureau of indian standards the bis has classified bottled water into two categories mineral water is obtained from the purest of sources such as natural springs or spas bottlers cannot make any changes in its composition or even chlorinate it the cheaper variety is usually obtained from underground reservoirs the water is treated with ozone or uv rays for purification minerals are also added the news about the contaminated bottled water has failed to surprise consumers who feel that they are always shortchanged because of poor quality control and an ineffective vigilance authority this is not the first time that packaged drinking water has been found to be laced with adulterants in a study conducted by the central pollution control board in delhi in 20002001 coliform bacteria were found in all the five brands that were tested an earlier study conducted by the ahmedabadbased consumer education and research society cers found bacteria in all the 13 brands tested while the bacteria were not diseasecausing ones their presence belied the claims of some firms that the water was 100 per cent germ free ten of the samples tested had floating objects on the surface the presence of aluminium and arsenic was also above stipulated levels in some of the samples manufacturers claim that their products comply with the standards laid down by the bureau of indian standards we have reports by laboratories approved by the bis which have tested our samples and concluded that pesticidal residues are not detectable said sanjay karkare vicepresident operations of parlebisleri it is not our fault if the cse used european norms consumer activist m r pai agreed manufacturers wouldnt want to deliberately sell a substandard product for that will affect their business too perhaps we need to remodify the bis standards itself spokesperson of the association for consumer action in safety