Who doesn't love Vietnam. From the spectacular Halong Bay in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south, Vietnam is full of fascinating sites and friendly, hospitable people. But lets face it, if you don't want to spend your vacation in bed sick, you have to rely on bottled water in some Asian countries these days.
Over the last few weeks I've been following stories about Vietnam's bottled water industry problems. In recent years the bottled water industry has exploded in Ho Chi Minh City, where an estimated one thousand bottlers produce 400 brands of bottled water. This has left regulators scrambling.
In April, inspectors discovered that 150 out of 538 producers nationwide failed to meet production standards. All bottled water companies are supposed to receive food safety and hygiene certificates in Vietnam but many don't follow regulations and the government doesn't have enough inspectors to catch them all. Some bottling plants were found to be using drilled wells with untreated water and others were ignoring the bottle washing process. This is bad news for tourists, but worse news for Vietnamese citizens who increasingly rely on bottled water for drinking, due to pollution of both surface and groundwater sources by industrial effluents like ammonia.
"Consumers should... choose reliable brand names," Le Truong Giang of Ho Chi Minh City's health department told IRIN. "The only way to be truly safe," he added, "is to boil the bottled water, too." The CDC has some ideas on how to ensure your water is safe to drink when traveling, but going for a high quality, well known brand is still your best bet. Staying away from Vietnam is just not an option!
Photo Credit: Vietnam.com
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