Until now, bottled water in South Africa has been regulated according to the general safety and quality criteria governing the production of food. Following representation and recommendations from the South African Natural Bottled Water Association (SANBWA) and in line with international trends, the Department of Health drew up new legislation specific to the bottled water industry based on the Codex Alimentarius.

The Codex Alimentarius was created in 1963 by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation to develop food standards and production guidelines aimed at protecting the health of consumers, ensuring fair trade practices in the food sector, and promoting co-ordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organisations.

As per the Codex, South Africa’s new bottled water legislation defines three classes of water that, if correctly bottled, will be safe, healthy and pleasant tasting for the public.
The first is `natural water` - sourced from an underground aquifer and bottled at source. The emphasis here is on ‘natural’ and so no treatment of the water is allowed. The composition of the bottled water is therefore identical to that of the source water. Natural mineral water and natural spring water fall into this class.

The second class is `waters defined by origin` – including rain, glacier, mist, and spring water. As a general rule these do require antimicrobial treatments but no treatments are allowed that would alter the chemical composition of the water.

The third class is `prepared water` – including municipal, surface or ground water that has been purified by treatments that change the chemical composition of the water. In the case of municipal water, for instance, previously added chemicals such as fluoride are removed and minerals are added.
South Africa’s new bottled water legislation stipulates what sources of water are acceptable, what types of treatment are required, the maximum levels of certain substances, and what information bottlers must display on their labels.

John Weaver, chairman of SANBWA and a consulting hydrogeologist, welcomed the new legislation, saying that it would help to build the rapidly-growing local bottled water industry by giving compliant producers more credibility with consumers.

SANBWA has for many years applied stringent, internationally-accepted criteria to the establishment, maintenance and monitoring of its members’ bottling plants and was instrumental in getting the new legislation drawn up.

“Bottlers who weren’t SANBWA members and did occasionally produce inferior products were a threat to the industry as a whole but, from a legal point of view, there was nothing we could do to either eliminate them or upgrade their operations to the correct standards.

“Also, barriers to entry to the industry are fairly low. Any farmer with access to an aquifer, for instance, could bottle and sell it and you don’t need a huge investment in equipment if you’re not going to focus on quality and standards. But, in that case, you’re going to spoil the market and go out of business quite quickly yourself.

“What the new legislation does is ensure that new entrants to the market start up under optimal conditions and are, therefore, sustainable in the long term. That’s good not only for the bottled water industry but for the economy as a whole.”

All SANBWA member products are obliged to carry the SANBWA logo on their bottles. The logo acts as a seal of quality. Since the new bottled water legislation was passed last year, as a service to the industry, SANBWA has assisted many non-members in becoming compliant. It has sampled 70 bottles from the trade, evaluated them against the regulations, and informed individual bottlers about what they needed to change in order to become compliant. It has also been working closely with many bottlers in re-designing labels and advising them on aligning their process requirements with the new legislation.

Consumers need to bear in mind that bottles currently on shop shelves will still have the old-style labels on them and that it may be several months before bottlers are able to get their newly labeled stock on to the shelves. Consumer queries can be directed to SANBWA at 011 884 5916.