EDITORIAL: Name and shame water bottling firms flouting law

It is indeed quite shocking to learn that Kenyans could be consuming contaminated bottled water.

This is after the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) cast doubt on the water quality from 157 bottlers operating in the country. The regulator said that the companies are operating illegally.

We urge Kebs to make public the list of water bottling companies that do not meet quality requirements. We cannot allow any firm to play Russian roulette with Kenyan lives.

The agency says that the guilty firms are operating in unhygienic sites while others don’t Kebs certification or operate in unknown locations. Others have been tapping suspect water or misleading users with fake labelling.

We aver that Kebs should also move a step further and take the companies to court for endangering lives. No one should be allowed to get away with such reckless behaviour.

It is also worrying that the situation has been allowed to continue for long.

The whip should have been cracked immediately on the errant companies once it was established that they were flouting the regulations.

Quality tests for such products being sold to the public should not only be frequent, but punishment must also be severe to ward off future misdemeanours.

The alarming revelations also come at a time when consumers are cutting down on their reliance on tapped water and opting for bottled water.

There is widespread belief that bottled water is safer hence these rogue companies are also harming the sector.

If this is not done the companies will think that they have a carte blanche to operate as they wish without any consequences for their reckless failures.

It cannot be business as usual when it comes to endangering Kenyan lives. The regulator must move beyond talk into action.