Bottled water: Price high, quality suspect

With increasing popularity of bottled water, their prices are also on the rise apparently without rhyme or reason. So, question naturally arises if there is any regulatory control over the country's ever-growing bottled water market. Then there is no way of ensuring if water bottled under various brand names is safe for public health. According to reports, an investigation conducted last year by the Bangladesh Competition Commission (BCC) revealed that some of the leading bottled water companies have been reaping windfall profits  of as high as 420 per cent simply by raising the prices of their half-a-litre bottles. It also unveiled that the bottled water companies thus engaged in fleecing the consumers violated section 15 (1), 15 (2) (a) and 15 (2) (b) respectively of the Competition Act, 2012, as they  colluded with each other to set water price unreasonably high rather than on the basis of a competitive market to adjust price.  So, their argument of increased production costs due to higher dollar price in Taka to justify their water price hike was untenable. In this connection, a lawsuit was lodged against seven such leading bottled water manufacturers. 

The Commission's investigation report, 'Abnormal Price Increases of Bottled Water' revealed that between January and September 2023, the companies so investigated raised the prices of 500 ml bottles from Tk15 to Tk20. But the facts, as found by the Commission report, were that though the import costs had risen slightly, the companies including their distributors and retailers gained huge profit margins between 71.23 per cent and 420 per cent. The wholesalers and retailers were also given fat commissions as incentives. The retailers, it could be learnt, were getting commissions of Tk5.0 to Tk9.0 per half-a-Litre bottle.  Clearly, the bottled water companies have been raking in money unethically in absence of strict monitoring of the bottled water market. The Commission probe also included Dhaka Water Supply and Sewage Authority (WASA) which markets its own brand of water. It is a contradiction that a non-profit government body responsible for supplying utilities to the citizens is marketing bottled water on a profit basis. However, it faced no lawsuit.  

But instead of falling, the prices of bottled water are still on a rising curve. Clearly, the previous actions taken by the government could not bring any positive change in pricing of bottled water.  Now a report published in the July 5 issue of this paper says that the government is thinking of rationalising the prices of bottled drinking water. To this end, the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has reportedly asked the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) to come up with a report recommending ways to bring down prices of bottled water within the reach of the common consumers. The companies in question have not yet mended their ways, so administration has to make them comply with the legal requirements. 

Let the government's latest move to rationalise prices of bottled water prove successful. But alongside price control measures, quality and safety of such drinking water must be ensured. The popular 30-some brands, owned both by local corporate and multinational houses should be brought under closer scrutiny to determine if they maintain required safety standards set by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI). Under any circumstances, health safety issues of bottled water cannot be compromised.