A dispute over tap water quality has erupted in Almaty after Svetlana Romanovskaya, head of the National Consumers League, said Pseudomonas bacteria had been found in the water, prompting a response from the municipal utility Almaty Su, the website infohub.kz reports.
Romanovskaya described the situation at a press conference at the Kazakhstan Press Club. According to her, a consumer bought a filter to improve the quality of tap water and installed it at home.
"He decided to check how safe and compliant with standards and GOST the filtered water was. He submitted it to an accredited, certified laboratory. He wrote an application, the specialists came, took samples in their own containers and tested them. And they found Pseudomonas bacteria there," Svetlana Romanovskaya explained.
She added that both plain and alkaline water were tested, and the bacteria were found in both.
"We went further. We invited Gorvodokanal. Knowing that we were raising the issue only over Pseudomonas, they came and took samples. And then they said: 'There is no Pseudomonas, but we have neither accreditation nor certification for this.' They have no specialists, no equipment, no methodology, yet they say there is no Pseudomonas. It turned out that there is a GOST, and it contains a water safety standard. And there are certain indicators. So why does Gorvodokanal have no accreditation or certification for Pseudomonas? Because they have never tested the water for it. They have no safety standards, and Pseudomonas is not on their list," Romanovskaya noted.
She added that she plans to demand that Pseudomonas be added to the list of elements tested for.
Almaty Su, meanwhile, commented on the situation, saying the company monitors drinking water quality around the clock at every stage of treatment and supply to consumers.
"According to production laboratory monitoring data, the water supplied to the city's water network meets established safety requirements. Following a complaint from a resident of 64/4 Auezov Street, company specialists took water samples and conducted laboratory tests. No deviations from standards were found in the tested physicochemical and microbiological indicators. The protocols submitted state that the microorganism was found in samples of tap water and water after a household filter. The protocols do not specify the method used to identify it. This microorganism is not on the list of standardized microbiological indicators for drinking water from centralized water supply systems. The data in the submitted protocols are insufficient to establish the presence of the microorganism in the city's water network or to conclude that the water fails to meet hygiene standards," Almaty Su said.
In addition, to verify the submitted results, Almaty Su plans to take water samples together with the territorial sanitary and epidemiological control authority at the city distribution network's entry point into the building and at indoor water sampling points.
"The samples taken are to be sent for additional testing to a laboratory accredited to identify this microorganism in water," the company concluded.