PERFORMANCE PRO 01 Jan 2008 Page 8
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DEBUNKING BOTTLED WATER MYTHS

The South African National Bottled Water Association (SANBWA) commissioned independent tests in November of last year on member and non-member brands including Ceres Spring Water, aquelle, La Vie De Luc, Waterval Naturale, Nestle Pure Life, Hex Valley and Bon Aqua in order to debunk myths that have been widely reported in the media recently. John Weaver, SANBWA chairman, said, "The two errors being reported as fact are creating confusion for consumers. The first myth is that tap water is being bottled and sold as natural or spring water in some sort of scam and the second is that the quality of the water being bottled locally is not acceptable." John Weaver confirmed that the tests have shown that bottled water is what it claims to be, and that it is safe as mineral content correlated with values declared on labels. Chlorine levels were below 0.01 mg/ litre which means that the water was not sourced from a tap. John Weaver stated that the results confirmed that the labels on the bottles represent the true contents of the bottle. Another concern for consumers was `prepared` water which is considered tap water with a fancy label on it. John Weaver admits that municipal water can be used as a water source. But the process includes stripping the water of all chemical and mineral contents, including chlorine, which is used for sterilisation, to its basic H20 level. Once this is done, certain minerals are added to obtain a balanced mineral content, which then makes it ready to be bottled.
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