PUBLISHED: TUESDAY AUGUST 19, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
UPDATED: TUESDAY AUGUST 19, 2014 MYT 7:54:38 AM
BY P. ARUNA AND AUSTIN CAMOENS
PETALING JAYA
THE WATER YOU BUY FROM VENDING MACHINES MAY NOT BE AS CLEAN AS YOU THINK.
TWENTY-NINE SAMPLES OF WATER WERE DRAWN FROM SUCH MACHINES THROUGHOUT KUALA LUMPUR – AND ALMOST ALL WERE CONTAMINATED.
THERE WERE HARMFUL E. COLI, COLIFORM AND CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS MICROBES – THE SAME KIND OF BACTERIA FOUND IN UNTREATED SEWAGE.
COLIFORM AND CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS ARE ALSO THE SAME BACTERIA FOUND IN HUMAN AND ANIMAL FAECES.
THESE BACTERIA CAN CAUSE CRAMPS, DIARRHOEA AND OTHER GASTROINTESTINAL PROBLEMS.
THE STAR CONDUCTED THE TESTS TOGETHER WITH FORUM AIR MALAYSIA, AN ORGANISATION FORMED TO ASSIST THE NATIONAL WATER SERVICES COMMISSION.
FORUM AIR MALAYSIA TESTED 14 SAMPLES IN APRIL WHILE THE STAR SCREEN 15.
THE SAMPLES WERE FROM VENDING MACHINES HERE AND IN SUBANG JAYA, CHERAS, KLANG AND KUALA LUMPUR.
UNDER MALAYSIA’S SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT, THERE SHOULD NOT BE ANY TRACE OF COLIFORM OR E. COLI IN DRINKING WATER.
FORUM AIR RESEARCH AND POLICY EXECUTIVE JESSLYN PEK SAID IT WAS WORRYING THAT MANY OF THE SAMPLES DID NOT HAVE TRACES OF FREE CHLORINE OR FLUORIDE, WHICH ARE CHEMICALS NEEDED TO KILL BACTERIA IN WATER.
“FROM THE TESTS ON THE 14 WATER SAMPLES, SIX WERE FOUND TO HAVE EITHER COLIFORM OR E. COLI – AND DID NOT CONTAIN ANY FREE CHLORINE OR CHLORIDE,” SHE SAID.
“FREE CHLORINE MUST BE PRESENT, BECAUSE IT IS A DISINFECTANT,” PEK SAID.
“THERE ARE STANDARDS TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH FREE CHLORINE IS NEEDED TO BE USED TO TREAT WATER, BUT AS IT CANNOT BE DETECTED AT ALL IN THESE SAMPLES, IT SHOWS THAT AN INSUFFICIENT AMOUNT WAS USED.”
IN THE TESTS CONDUCTED BY THE STAR WITH AN ACCREDITED LAB, ALL 15 SAMPLES TESTED POSITIVE FOR COLIFORM AND CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS.
WATER VENDING MACHINES ARE FOUND IN OFFICE AND RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS AND UNIVERSITIES OR COLLEGES.
PEOPLE PREFER TO BUY THIS WATER AS IT COSTS ONLY ABOUT 20 SEN A LITRE COMPARED TO BOTTLED WATER, WHICH CAN COST MORE THAN RM2 FOR THE SAME AMOUNT.
ACCORDING TO AN INDUSTRY SOURCE, THE HEALTH MINISTRY BEGAN A NATIONWIDE EFFORT TO LICENSE OWNERS OF WATER VENDING MACHINES LAST YEAR.
HOWEVER, TO DATE, MANY HAVE NOT RESPONDED.
TO OBTAIN THE LICENCE, OPERATORS NEED TO FORK OUT RM450 PER MACHINE AND SEND WATER FROM THE MACHINES FOR QUALITY TESTS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY.
THEY ALSO HAVE TO PAY A LICENCE PROCESSING FEE OF RM130.
A TWO-YEAR LICENCE COSTS RM150.
REGULATION 360 (C) (FOR “VENDED WATER”) WAS ADDED TO THE FOOD REGULATIONS 1985 IN AUGUST 2012 TO REGULATE WATER VENDING MACHINES.
THE MINISTRY HAS REQUESTED FOR FULL WATER TEST RESULTS AFTER BEING ALERTED BY THE STAR.
EXPERTS: FILTRATION SYSTEM MUST BE SERVICED REGULARLY
THE FILTRATION SYSTEM IN WATER VENDING MACHINES CAN BECOME BREEDING GROUNDS FOR BACTERIA IF NOT SERVICED REGULARLY, SAY EXPERTS.
MALAYSIAN ASSOCIATION OF STANDARDS USERS CEO RATNA DEVI NADARAJAN SAID THE PURPOSE OF THE SYSTEM IS TO FILTER OUT BACTERIA, BUT IF IT IS NOT MAINTAINED OR SERVICED REGULARLY, IT CAN BREED BACTERIA.
BESIDES THE FILTER, SHE SAID THE EXPOSED NOZZLE COULD ALSO COLLECT BACTERIA IF NOT MAINTAINED OR CLEANED.
“THE FACT THAT FAECAL COLIFORM HAS BEEN FOUND IN WATER SHOWS THAT IT IS ALREADY VERY BAD.
“WE CANNOT COMPROMISE ON THIS. SUCH BACTERIA SHOULD NOT BE THERE AT ALL,” SHE SAID.
RATNA, HOWEVER, SAID COLIFORM COULD BE EASILY TREATED WITH CHLORINE.
SHE SAID THE PRESENCE OF FREE CHLORINE IN WATER WAS AN INDICATION THAT THE DISINFECTANT WAS STILL WORKING.
“BUT IN MANY OF THE WATER SAMPLES, THERE WERE NO TRACES OF FREE CHLORINE, WHICH MEANT THAT THE TREATMENT OF WATER WAS NOT DONE PROPERLY.”
RATNA SAID THE PRESENCE OF COLIFORM IN DRINKING WATER COULD CAUSE DIARRHOEA OR OTHER STOMACH PROBLEMS, ESPECIALLY IN CHILDREN AND THOSE WITH EXISTING HEALTH PROBLEMS.
FORUM AIR MALAYSIA RESEARCH AND POLICY EXECUTIVE JESSLYN PEK SAID THE CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS BACTERIA THAT WAS FOUND IN WATER SAMPLES TESTED WAS NOT HAZARDOUS IN WATER BUT COULD CAUSE FOOD POISONING.
“IT USUALLY CAUSES STOMACH PROBLEMS FOR ABOUT A DAY AND PEOPLE MAY NOT KNOW THAT IS DUE TO THE WATER.
“FOOD POISONING CAN RESULT IF THIS WATER IS USED FOR COOKING,” SHE SAID.
PEK SAID THE CONDITION OF MANY OF THE WATER VENDING MACHINES WAS ALSO FOUND NOT TO BE IN ACCORDANCE WITH PART 5 (55) OF THE FOOD HYGIENE REGULATION 2009.
“ACCORDING TO THE RULES, THE MACHINES MUST BE ‘EQUIPPED WITH SELF-CLOSING, TIGHT-FITTING DOORS ON THE DISPENSE COMPARTMENT WHEN THE WATER VENDING MACHINE IS NOT IN USE’.
“SOME MACHINES HAD DOORS WHICH COULD NOT SHUT ON THEIR OWN WHILE OTHERS DID NOT EVEN HAVE DOORS,” SHE SAID.
PEK URGED THE HEALTH MINISTRY TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION BY SCREENING THE OPERATORS OF THE VENDING MACHINES.
NO SIGNS THESE MACHINES DISPENSE CLEAN WATER
ONE VENDING MACHINE IN SUNWAY MENTARI HERE WAS INSTALLED IN A NARROW SHOP LOT CORRIDOR AMIDST STREWN RUBBISH.
THE SLOT WHERE WATER IS DISPENSED WAS FOUND TO BE DIRTY, RUSTY AND WITHOUT A DOOR.
THERE WAS NO SIGN OF A MAINTENANCE STICKER ON THE MACHINE AND IT WAS NOT KNOWN WHEN THE WATER FILTERS OF THE VENDING MACHINE WERE LAST CLEANED.
THE TWO FILTERS LINKED TO THE MACHINE LOOKED OLD, AND HAD MOSS AND DIRT COVERING THE HINGES.
IN ANOTHER MACHINE LOCATED IN SUBANG JAYA, ALGAE WAS FOUND GROWING IN THE DISPENSER.
IT STOOD NEXT TO A NARROW DRAIN WHICH WAS CLOGGED BY RUBBISH.
AS WAS THE CASE OF THE SUNWAY MENTARI MACHINE, IT WAS LOCATED IN A BUSY AREA, WITH MANY PEOPLE, MOSTLY LOCAL RESIDENTS OF NEARBY FLATS, BUYING WATER FROM IT.
CHECKS ON SEVERAL OTHER VENDING MACHINES LOCATED BY THE ROADSIDE SHOWED BROKEN DOORS, EXPOSING THE SPOUT TO DUST, DIRT AND EXHAUST FUMES FROM PASSING VEHICLES.
MOST OF THE 29 MACHINES CHECKED DURING THE SURVEY DID NOT DISPLAY THE DATES THEY WERE LAST SERVICED AND DID NOT HAVE PROPER DOORS.
SOURCE: THE STAR
