Bottled Water or Bottled Poison? What Are You Drinking?

Kenyans love bottled water. Or let us just say that Nairobians love bottled water. In fact, Nairobians have “complete trust” in bottled water.

As you walk around with that bottled water, have you ever stopped to think that you might be walking around with you one-way ticket to an early grave?

Well, more than 300 companies selling bottled water in Nairobi are not licensed and do not bear the mark of quality from KEBS. Due to corruption, some do have the trademark from KEBS.

Most of the bottled water flooding Kenyan supermarkets, shops and streets are actually not fit for human uptake. Of all the bottled water in Nairobi, only 1 percent might be safe.

Most of the bottled water being sold is packaged on the backstreets of Nairobi by individuals who fetch it directly from the taps, seal the bottles using gas cookers and selling if as “purified water.”

There are those who will say “our brand is genuine. We only take Dasani or Quencher.” You are in for a rude shock. Most of these known brands have been pirated. People are picking bottles of these brands, watch them and refilling them with water which then comes back as though from the parent company.

They say water is life but in Nairobi, water is the poison that might be killing you slowly. Pronounce the term slowly “very slowly”. Do not trust any bottled water.

Currently, the only likely safe water in Nairobi is that which you fetch from the tap, boil it at 100 degrees Celsius, cool it and you want it cold use the fridge then drink.

In some areas like parts of Kayole, tap water is even more dangerous because some are said to raw sewage due to pipe bursts with minimal repairs.

Starting today, know one thing: not every sparkling bottle carries pure and clean water for you to drink. Be careful.