Dear Editor,
On Monday, September 24, I was at a place of business where I asked one of the attendants for a specific brand of water. The attendant told me that they had not received that brand of water yet since they opened. He recommended another name brand which in his words sold more than the local name brands.
I was confused because to my knowledge it was a few years ago that one of the locally produced potable waters came out on top when tests were made on potable waters, both produced locally as well as imported. He could not recall that, but he was of the opinion that the name brand that he mentioned sold faster than the locally produced potable waters.
This did not sit well with me, so I decided to ask around. The little that I know about marketing is that if a product is declared number one, one would not hesitate to advertise this with posters, on radio, TV, on billboards, etc. Remarkably I have not seen none of this.
What I know about testing water is that the Health Department and the laboratories are usually involved. What I gathered is that as a rule potable water should be tested monthly and these tests, which determine the qualification for drinking, are paid for by the representatives of the different name brands. I stand to be corrected if this is not explained correctly.
What was hinted to me and is yet to be confirmed is that not all representatives of the different name brands of potable water, neither produced locally or imported, live up to the rule of testing. So, my question is, where are the checks and balances between the health department and the labs?
I know of this procedure because when I worked on Aruba and the registered ladies of the night did not report for their weekly check-up at their respective doctors, their names were forwarded to the vice squad which made sure that they complied. I believe that this system of checks and balances should be applied to the testing of potable water sold in the country and should become second nature to those involved.
I am not asking for the results to be made public because I do not believe that the government should be in the business of publishing which is the best drinking water. The labels with the nutrition facts should be made to show that.
On checking the different name brands I came up with three locally produced, from among the eight that I found. My question is, if none of these potable waters are tested regularly, what control do we have over the quality of the imported potable waters? I think that it is time to look into this.
What hits me strange is, if samples are not submitted to be tested, why are not the representatives of those which are rightly being submitted complaining? It takes cooking gas to boil the potable water which is not tested and of which eight glasses a day is recommended by everyone in the medical field. Why should we have to boil it again if we are paying for it?
Russell A. Simmons
