Package Drinking Water

INTRODUCTION
It is universal truth that water is very essential for sustaining life and survival of mankind including animal and plants. The water used for potable purpose by mankind should be free from undesirable impurities and contamination. Though the water available on the earth is abundant but fresh water fit for human consumption is hardly 3% of total available water, source of which are river springs, pond, rain water and ground water. The untreated water available from sources like well, bore well and springs is generally not hygienic and unsafe for human consumption. Thus needs treatment and purification to supply hygienic packed water for drinking purpose. As the name implies, the packaged drinking water is the purified water free from contamination, suspended impurities, unwanted colour, diseases causing micro organism and hygienically packed with convenience of use. Water born diseases are cause of concern world over and lot of money spent on the treatment of diseases caused by contaminated water and problem has assumed alarming proportions due to increasing contamination of ground water. This has given boost to demand for hygienically packed purified water and this is growing rapidly.

PRODUCTS AND ITS APPLICATION
Packaged drinking water is the sealed water ,which ensures that the water will be safe , clean and potable for human consumption. Packaged drinking water is from any source and has to be treated and disinfected, a process that could involve filtration, UV or ozone treatment, reverse osmosis before it is fit for human consumption.
Uses of Packaged Drinking Water :
▶ Tourist Destinations
▶ Travelling
▶ Cafes
▶ Restaurants
▶ Trains
▶ Flights
▶ Buses
▶ Business Conferences

MARKET POTENTIAL
▶ In a country where disposable incomes are rising as much as the awareness about clean drinking water, the packaged water industry is growing at nearly 15 per cent every year.
▶ The industry is growing rapidly as people spend a large part of their time outside homes and prefer to purchase 20-litre bulk packages of water for home use rather than installing water purifiers. They also travel a lot more than before.
▶ According to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), there are approximately 1,200 bottling plants and 200 brands of packaged drinking water across the country. Out of these 200 brands, 80% of them are local.
▶ The growing demand for bottled water speaks volumes of scarcity of clean drinking water and the quality of tap water. It has become an icon of healthy lifestyle emerging in India.
▶ The market today has grown to Rs 1100 crore.The organised sector – Branded packaged drinking water has only Rs 700 crore of market share. The rest is accounted for unorganised sector. The market is still growing at a rate greater than 80%.
▶ So there is good scope for establishing the units for processing and bottling plain and mineralised drinking water in the country.