The Standard Organization of Nigeria ( SON ) has disclosed that none of the sachet Water popularly called ‘pure water’ consumed in Niger state is certified safe by the organization.

A Senior Standard Officer in the Niger state Office in Minna, Mallam Zararudeen Abubakar told The Nation that majority of the bottled water in the state have also not met up with SON standard.

He explained that SON had suspended the certification of sachet water because investigations have revealed that the chemicals used in the packaging materials can be harmful.

“To this end, the organization have been able to elaborate a standard for the packaging material of sachet water which mandates manufacturers of sachet water to collect certificate of analysis from the manufacturer of their packaging material before the organization can certify them.

“That is why in Niger state, none of the sachet water is certified. None have been able to present these certificates and without that, we cannot certify them. ”

Zararudeen further said that SON is stepping up its monitoring and compliance mechanism to ensure that manufacturers of sachet and bottled water meet up to the safety standard in order not to ‘present poison for people to drink. “

•Sourced from The Nation report