Canadian scientists say that 70% of bottled water on sale on the High Street contains high levels of bacteria. They warn that the presence of high levels of bacteria may put pregnant women and other vulnerable groups at risk.
Microbiologist Dr Sonish Azam, of Ccrest Laboratories, Montreal, said that bottled water often failed to live up to its claims or purity. She told the Daily Telegraph: “Heterotrophic bacteria counts in some of the bottles were found to be in revolting figures of one hundred times more than the permitted limit. Bottled water is not expected to be free from microorganisms but the [level] observed in this study is surprisingly very high.”
Dr Azam said that although the levels of water found in the popular bottled water brands were unlikely to pose a health hazard to most people, there could be dangers for some vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, infants, immunocompromised patients and the elderly.
