Drinking water from dispensers at schools has been tested to ensure its quality, according to a regular meeting by the Municipal Affairs Bureau’s (IAM) Consultative Committee yesterday.
The tests have been part of the bureau’s activity plan which started in May.
The meeting was held at the IAM headquarters, where the committee members addressed the activity plan’s various issues. One of the activities involved water quality testing of water dispensers in local schools before the resumption of classes in early May.
According to a IAM report, around 485 samples were taken from 64 local schools for water quality testing.
When Consultative Committee member Ron Lam U Tou asked the bureau about the results of the tests, IAM Administrative Committee Member Ung Sao Hong replied that only a small amount of samples failed to reach the official guidelines, and the most common reason for the failure was due to a high bacteria count. Ung said that after disinfection and further water quality monitoring, the water quality was now within the guideline.
Meanwhile, the Macau Consumer Council (MCC) said in a statement on Wednesday that it and the IAM Department of Food Safety earlier this year tested bottled drinking water on sale in local supermarkets, results of which were published in the latest Consumer Report.
According to the findings, one soda water sample randomly taken from bottled water on sale was discovered to potentially cause cancer in humans, because it contained 0.0462 mg/L of bromate, which exceeded Macau’s GL 001 DSA 2018 “General Hygiene and Quality Guidelines on Bottled Drinking Water”.
The soda water was Chang Soda water from Thailand in 325 ml bottles. In April this year, as reported by The Macau Post Daily, IAM instructed retailers to stop selling a batch of Chang Soda water for the same reason.
The MCC statement noted that bromate is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as Group 2B carcinogen, meaning it can cause cancer in our body if consumed in large quantities.
The statement added that the IAM Department of Food Safety has already adopted measures with the aim of safeguarding consumers’ health, such as requesting vendors to stop selling the product.
Members of the public can access the Consumer Council’s official website www.consumer.gov.mo to view details of the report and related information about unsafe products.
This photo taken yesterday shows different brands of bottled water at a local supermarket. Photos by Nicole Iun
Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) Administrative Committee members talk with Consultative Committee members during a general meeting of the committee a the bureau’s headquarters yesterday.
