Executives of two local bottle water companies on Thursday warned consumers to be on the lookout for drivers of unmarked trucks who are selling unpurified water claiming that they are affiliated with leading companies.
Many consumers are complaining about getting bad water after purchasing it from sellers claiming to be from reputable water companies.
The Bahama Journal recently received several complaints from customers who claimed that they had purchased water from unmarked water trucks and instead of crystal clear water; they received dirt, filth and an unpleasant taste.
It’s a problem officials said they have been tackling for years.
Company officials indicated that somehow unscrupulous persons are obtaining the labels for their companies and are passing the water off as purified drinking water.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health Ron Pinder has also raised concerns over this practice, saying that it was one authorities were determined to address.
Margaret Cartwright, operations manager at Sun Manufacturing Limited, which is the supplier for Coral Springs water, explained on Thursday that the practice has resulted in the company losing profits.
“What happens is you find people [who] just want to make a quick dollar and they would just take up any bottle that has a good label on it and fill it with tap water and then sell it as authentic clean water,” Ms. Cartwright explained.
“The caps for the water are very easy to put on and that is how many customers have been tricked into purchasing unpurified water because once the cover is sealed tight they assume that the water is good until they taste it and realize that it’s not.”
Ms. Cartwright said persons have called in to complain about the poor water because of Coral Springs’ labels being on the bottles.
“Usually when the unpurified water is brought to the company’s attention a testing to evaluate whether the water came from that particular company is done. All of the water brought in for additional testing was not from our company,” she assured.
Ms. Cartwright said the company has warned customers to take note of persons who they purchase water from and when possible even take down the truck’s license plate number to help water companies catch these persons and bring them in to the authorities.
She said that she is aware of several persons being prosecuted for the criminal act, including some of the company’s employees found selling caps.
Officials at Chelsea’s Choice, another popular bottle water company, also have concerns.
The company’s operations manager, Leevan Sands, said it is extremely difficult catching persons responsible for selling unpurified water.
“We have received information of truck drivers filling the five gallon water bottles with pump water and some persons even used well water, but our concern is where these persons were getting the caps from to seal the bottles closed,” Mr. Sands said.
He said the drivers may be purchasing covers from manufactures in the United States.
“It’s a difficult process for the company because when we ask persons to identify the truck or the driver they give vague specifics like the driver was short and dark, so that doesn’t really help the company and we are unable to track down these persons,” Mr. Sands said.
Officials of the companies also reminded that bottles that were used to hold liquids other than water could change the taste of water when they are refilled.
Both companies urged consumers not to store anything other than water in the bottles because during the purification process and the cleaning of the bottles some substances like colouring or chlorine are hard to clean out and sometimes end up being mixed with the purified water.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
Editor’s Note: It is outrageous that the government of the Bahamas allows “Profit” Rolle, a frustrated entertainer who passes himself off as a pastor, to sell bottled water at $1.00 a pint while claiming it is “healing water”, and at the same time warn consumers to not buy unpurified water.
