IS OUR PURE WATER REALLY PURE?

Whoever that coined the term Pure Water for sachet waters sold in Nigeria no doubt has the interest of the Nigerian populace at heart and deserve to be shortlisted for the next national awards but I am certain that this person will be worried out of his/her mind considering the abuse the term has suffered in  recent time.


We all still remember Fela Kuti, the late Nigerian maverick afrobeat maestro. A man who would look into a man's eyes and tell him his sins no matter the number of heads he has.

This baba actually said something in one of his songs I love so much: “omi o ni ota” a Yoruba term which literary means that, water has no enemy. Some of the other things he said in the song can make anyone laugh but the message is true and timeless. And because our lives revolves around water I honestly can’t conceive why anybody would deliberately want to make water an enemy to mankind or to himself.

This is not a rant but I dey vex!

On my way home after we vacated from the university some years back- how time flies- I bought a bottle of table water from a young innocent-looking boy from my position in the bus in O-town. When I felt the need for it hours later, I grabbed the cork but to my utter amazement it had been uncorked already. Na who send them message! I screamed in my small head.

To cut the long story short, it was very obvious to me that my young-innocent-looking-boy-water-vendor filled an empty container with water and sold it to me and because there was nothing I could do I ended up biting my fingers in anger.

I am definitely not ranting but this long dead memory ‘lazarused’ penultimate Friday.

I went to purchase a bag of Pure Water from a nearby company- nothing special about the company except that there is this orobocious lady with luminous eyes who I love to say hi to…Just Hi and nothing else o! Usually, I would stand at the entrance of the company – a one bedroom flat- and echo: “Mo fe ra omi” (I want to buy water in Yoruba) and my orobocious damsel would come smiling that smile that would have saved God and Ezekiel of all the wahala in Ezekiel 37: 1-10. All that she needed to do is smile at the dry bones and they would rise smiling– instead I heard a strong baritone that sounded like that
deep voice you hear in Nollywood film advert.

“Come inside” the voice commanded.

I walked in and came face to face with what the man was doing. Instantly, I felt my skin crawl.

“Sir, you people don’t filter this thing?” I asked in confusion.

“Oremi, we dey filter am, na me just dey do this one,” he replied.

“But this is not good,” I said to him.

What I expected

The man gave me a “get-off-my-case” look and asked me if I had come to investigate him or to buy water. The other things are details.

Filling sachets with untreated water for the general public is unhealthy. Untreated water often contain disease-causing microbes which are ubiquitous and because Pure Water is the most frequently consumed form of water in Nigeria, a considerable number of the population will be affected by this. So, for those who indulge in this unwholesome business, know it that it is VERY wrong. And it is just like throwing a stone in a market busy with people. One of your own could get hit.

I have heard some of the mischief by some bad eggs in the Pure Water industry – like how they deceive the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) with fake water samples just to get certified, how some of them go extreme by printing fake NAFDAC numbers on the water sachets, but collecting untreated water into plastic containers or sachets is too bad. The thought of it alone gives me indigestion. Many people are going through different health issues today because of this things.

Another point worthy of note is Pure Water handling.
If you are a Nigerian or are privileged to have visited some busy cities in Nigeria, you will agree with me that some persons hawk Pure Water. And under the scotching sun, too. Even though they do this to keep body and soul together, it could be dangerous.

You want to know how? okay, here is the low down.

The sachets used for packaging Pure Water are made of synthetic petroleum products and when the sun hits them up, the chemicals dissolves into the water. The aftermath effect after a long time of continuous consumption is diarrhea or even cancer.

What is the way out?

The agency responsible for monitoring this people should quit sitting in their offices and start doing something. Their work shouldn’t stop at just requesting for samples to be tested in their laboratories, they should also follow them up and monitor what they are producing for the general public. An Ibo adage says: “Anaghi edowe otule otu ebe aza ezi” Literary put; you don’t sweep a compound sitting down.

The people who indulge in this unwholesome act should have a rethink, Haba malam! You want to eat omelet without breaking eggs? Or maybe you don’t see anything wrong in this because some persons you know do it. But beloved, the three basic properties of water is that it must be odourless, tasteless and colourless. When you produce Pure Waters that has either odour, taste, colour or any kind of impurity, bury them in your backyard because they are no longer PURE.