Unhygienic water collected directly from taps, or filtered water is being sold under the garb of mineral water in Lahore and nearby cities.
The fake mineral water bottles are mainly sold in at railway stations, bus stands, petrol pumps and stores on roads entering or exiting Lahore, because travellers may have no choice but to buy unknown brands, reported the Daily Times.
Quoting sources at the Lahore's Food Department, the paper said that more than half of mineral water brands being sold in the city contained unhygienic tap water.
They said that during the recent campaign carried out by the department to check the quality of about 50 mineral water brands, more than 25 brands were found to be substandard.
During the campaign, the department reportedly seized nearly 25,000 substandard mineral water bottles and about 20 factories were sealed for bottling and selling substandard mineral water.
Food District Officer (DO) Chaudhry MunirMunir said: "People do not buy mineral water in small towns and the mineral water factories operating in these areas sell their product in bigger cities."