Stringent measures are coming for manufacturers of bottled water and providers of public drinking water.

This, as the Ministry of Health will, by year end, introduce regulations for drinking water.

"We are concerned about raw and bottled water (because) it is not everything you see in a bottle means it is good quality," Dr. Sheila Campbell-Forrester, chief medical officer of health, said yesterday at a workshop for regulators of drinking water.

Labelled the spring

"There are many persons in Jamaica who now have found a spring and labelled the spring the best spring in the world and they have started to produce water," Horace Dalley, Minister of Health, told the gathering at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston.

"We have an obligation in the Ministry of Health and other regulatory bodies to ensure that the water is pure and some of your water is just not pure water," he said.

Mr. Dalley told the regulators that they have the opportunity to regulate their institutions. "Because we will be coming to ensure that you maintain high standards for our people," he warned.

Currently a subcommittee on water quality management of the board of the Central Health Committee is overseeing the development of the regulations. In addition to regulators, the Ministry of Health will also be consulting with providers of drinking water and the public.

The aim of the regulations will, among other things:

Allow Jamaica to be on par with regulators in other jurisdictions. They will incorporate infrastructure requirements, for example, specification on input materials such as pipelines and fittings, treatment modalities and punitive options for non-compliance.

Make it mandatory for all providers of public drinking water to obtain approval to operate all public water supply systems.

Mandate new test methods such as those for giardia and pesticides.

Allow the Ministry of Health to approve, not accredit, laboratories involved in drinking water quality testing and stipulate the reporting requirements by these laboratories.

In his remarks, Dr. Ernest Pate, PAHO/WHO representative in Jamaica, said if the society does not have adequate drinking water with a good quality, it will run into serious risks.