Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 59(1): 33-37, 2011 (January) * Corresponding author: Mail: subrotakumar_saha@yahoo.com Chemical Characterization and Quality Compliance of Bottled Mineral Water in Bangladesh Nazia Hasan 1 , Sibly Sadik 2 , S K Saha 3 , Md Zillur Rahman 3 and MM Shafiqur Rahman 1 1 Environmental Science Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna 9208 2 Institute of Water and Flood Management, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000 3 Department of Geology, Dhaka, University Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh Received on 12.08.2009. Accepted for Publication on 01.08.2010 Abstract Environmental auditing on bottled water chemistry has done to support sustainable practices and to have a positive impact on the bottled water consumption to community level and environment. Bottled water consumption is increasing day by day in Bangladesh with the safe and pure water supply perception (customer) and advertisements (company). The article is intended to provide an environmental audit to find out the integrity between perception and the existing facts of the bottled waters chemistry in Bangladesh. Nine brands available in the local market (MUM, FRESH, JIBON, ACME, FUWANG, PRAN, ALMA, MUKTA, and LIBRA) were analyzed to verify the labeled value and its compliance with local standards (BSTI) and International standards (WHO). In the study the Bangladesh Standard Specification for Drinking Water BDS-1240:2001 and the Bangladesh Standard Specification for Natural Mineral Water BDS-1414:2000 are taken as the standard parameter for environmental auditing of bottled waters to make compliance audits of labeling. The findings of the study revealed that consumer rights are not protected and the practices the manufacturers follow to control the quality of drinking water are largely flawed. Key words: Chemistry, Compliance, Auditing, Mineral water I. Introduction Bottled water consumption reflects a certain way of life. Bottled water consumption has been steadily growing in the world for the past 30 years. It is the most dynamic sector of all the food and beverage industry. Its consumption in the world increases by an average 7% each year, in spite of its excessively high price compared to tap water (Feru, 2004) 1 . Consumers perceive it as being safer and of better quality. They also look for security: food scandals in industrialised countries and water-borne diseases in developing countries have a great impact on their attitude. Bottled water is perceived as pure and safe, although it is not necessarily the case (Ferrier, 2002) 2 . The chemistry of bottled water is important for all consumers especially for those with health concerns and safety. Bottled water which sold for human consumption varies in composition and flavor depending on the source of the water and processing method used (CBWA, 2006; FDA, 1992, 1996) 3, 4, 5 . Labels may or may not disclose the source of the water and descriptive terms that appear on bottled water labels may or may not have legal definitions. However, if the manufacturer lists the source, it must be able to defend the source (IBWA, 2000) 6 . In Bangladesh bottled water, labeled as 'mineral water' entered the market after the 1988’s flood when Hepatitis- B broke out widely and people began to regard tap water as unsafe. Now a day there is some additional cause to increase bottled waters demand as arsenic contamination of well water and the poor quality of tap water (CAB, 2004) 7 . The concept used in environmental auditing of bottled water quality is closely related to verification and testing of water quality with review of label documentation and standards. In Bangladesh bottled water is subject to the requirements on BSTI specification of BDS-1414:2000 and BDS-1240:2001 Standard. So the review for compliance to bottled waters quality requirements with specifications, and standards of national (BSTI) regulatory body made the rational to facilitate the consumers’ access to the packaged water quality and conformity. This paper will then identify the major reasons why consumers choose to buy expensive bottled water rather than drink tap water. It will finally analyze the impact this industry has on the environment. II. Materials and Methods According to BSTI the bottled water’s are specified as– Natural Drinking Water and Natural Mineral Water. Generally and popularly “Mineral water” bottle is the synonym of the bottled waters purchased and sells in our country market. The same brand of bottled water marketed all over the country containing same label and water quality have no significant variation whether collect from Dhaka, Khulna, Chittagong or other remote area of Bangladesh. So the selection of the available nine (9) brand of bottled water from four market places of Khulna was done by the deliberate/convenience sampling procedure. The selected Sample brands were MUM, FRESH, JIBON, ACME, FU-WANG, PRAN, LIBRA, and MUKTA. These nine brands of samples were purchased and divided into two groups according to BSTI Certification Mark. Group-A: BDS-1240:2001 8 (Drinking Water). Sample-1: MUM; Sample-5: FU- WANG; Sample-7: ALMA; Sample-8: MUKTA Group-B: BDS-1414:2000 9 (Natural Mineral Water). Sample-2: FRESH; Sample-3: JIBON; Sample-4: ACME; Sample-6: PRAN; Sample-9: LIBRA Chemical parameters for the present study had been selected on the basis of comparative review of labeled parameters and the parameters had the laboratory facilities to test. To measure the drinking water quality of the collected sample, 17(seventeen) chemical examination such as pH, EC, TDS, Sodium(Na + ), Potassium (K + ), Calcium(Ca),