The Directorate-General of Norms and Quality Systems (DIGENOR), the body charged with setting and monitoring production standards in the DR, released a study yesterday showing most bottled water sold in the DR meets acceptable sanitary production standards. DIGENOR Director-General Hugo Rivera said that the technical study showed that 73 of 89 registered bottlers of "purified" water are complying with DIGENOR standards, and that Dominican bottled water has an average potability index of 92.2%. DIGENOR and the Public Health Ministry (SESPAS) say that any water with an index between 90 and 100% is considered potable, or safe for immediate human consumption. He discounted a 1998 study by the Microbiological and Parisitology Institute of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), which had claimed to have found 26.19% of bottled water contaminated with E coli bacteria and 73.8% stripped of minerals. The bacterial contamination problem has been remedied, he insisted, and the lack of mineral content does not mean water is unsafe to drink. He pointed out that even international standards allow low mineral content for bottled water, but like Dominican norms, call for mineral-poor water to be identified as such on bottle labels.
