Millions of Pakistanis reach for a bottle of mineral water every day, trusting the sealed cap as a promise that what is inside is clean and safe to drink. For 27 brands on shop shelves across the country, that promise has now failed an official test. The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has declared 27 commercially available bottled and mineral water brands unsafe for human consumption after laboratory tests found microbiological and chemical contamination in samples collected during the third quarter of 2026.
The findings come from the council's regular quarterly monitoring programme, carried out under government directives. Between July and September this year, PCRWR teams collected 223 samples of bottled water brands from 20 major cities across Pakistan and tested them against the quality standards set by the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), the body that defines what bottled water sold in the country must contain — and what it must not.
Three of the brands failed on sodium, a mineral that is harmless in small amounts but a concern when it is present in excess. Aab-e-Haram, AB-Blue Water and HR Water Healthy Life were found to contain sodium levels ranging from 94 to 164 parts per million (ppm), far above the permissible limit of 50 ppm. For people who drink bottled water as their main source of water every day, that difference adds up over weeks and months, and it matters most for those who have been advised to watch their salt intake.
Aab-e-Haram failed on a second count as well. Its total dissolved solids — a measure of all the minerals and salts dissolved in the water — stood at 680 ppm, against a prescribed limit of 500 ppm. High dissolved solids do not by themselves prove a health danger, but they are a recognised sign that the water has not been treated or filtered to the standard the label implies, and they can leave an unpleasant taste as well as a heavier mineral load.
Two other brands were found to contain arsenic at levels above the safety limit. Akwafine Bottled Drinking Water and Premium Safa Purified Water carried arsenic ranging from 13.5 to 23.2 parts per billion (ppb), against a permissible limit of 10 ppb. Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that can seep into groundwater from rock and soil, and it is one of the contaminants regulators watch most closely, because long-term exposure to elevated levels is linked to serious health problems. Fresh Smart Pure Water, meanwhile, contained potassium at 20 ppm, double the permissible limit of 10 ppm.
The largest group of failures, however, was bacterial. Twenty-two brands were found to be contaminated with bacteria, making them unsafe for drinking. The list includes Aab-e-Haram, Douro, Aab-e-Makuran, Water Verse Purified, Jel Bottled Drinking Water, Sip Bottled Drinking Water, Safi Bottled Drinking Water, Pure Aqua Tech Bottled Drinking Water, Aqua Grain Bottled Drinking Water, Water Time Bottled Drinking Water, Al Saha Drinking Water, Aab-e-Hayat, K&S Aqua Sea, JERS Safe Life, Athar Premium, Aqua Dor, HHG Sweets and Bakers, Drinkly, One Flow Bottled Drinking Water, Zalmi Pure Mineral Water, New A2Z Bottled Water and Aqua Indus.
Bacterial contamination is the most immediate of the three problems the report identifies. While excess minerals build up their risk over time, bacteria in drinking water can cause stomach infections and diarrhoeal illness within days, and they pose the greatest danger to young children, older people and anyone whose immune system is already weakened. It is also the failure that points most directly at the bottling process itself — to source water that was not properly treated, to equipment that was not cleaned, or to handling that let germs in after the water had been purified.
The results carry a wider warning for a market that has grown rapidly as piped water supplies in many Pakistani cities have become unreliable. Bottled water is no longer a luxury for most urban households; for many families it is the everyday drinking water, bought in bulk and used for cooking as well as drinking. That makes the quality of the cheapest brands — the ones most likely to be bought by lower-income households — a public health question, not only a consumer one.
PCRWR has urged consumers to consult the detailed quarterly report before purchasing or consuming bottled water brands, so that they can make informed decisions and safeguard their health. The complete report is available on the council's website at www.pcrwr.gov.pk. The council publishes these findings every quarter, and the same brands are tested again in later rounds, so a brand named today can return to the safe list only after its water passes the same tests.
For now, the advice for shoppers is straightforward: check the brand against the latest PCRWR report before buying, prefer brands with a consistent record of passing the tests, and remember that a sealed bottle and a familiar label are no guarantee on their own. The council's testing will continue into the final quarter of the year, and its next report will show whether the 27 brands named today have cleaned up their water — or whether more names are added to the list.
