Not long ago, would anybody have had the faintest conception that water could be bottled and sold in Sri Lanka — a country blessed with abundance of the natural resource we call water.

Assumptions changed. Changes brought about by environmental contamination and ecological imbalances forced the trend to consume purified drinking water. More importantly health prerogatives have now taken precedence in daily usage of such natural resources.

Health concerns dominate needs for natural resources. Not least compulsion for consumption of purified drinking water has now grown significantly to meet demands dictated by a growing end user base for healthful high standards.

Water is now the most consumed ‘beverage’ globally; that too purified bottled drinking water, followed by tea coffee and other soft drinks and fizzers in that order.

Speed Water Systems (Pvt) Ltd., a leading player in the bottled water market, has been in business six years and within this short space of time achieved the ISO standards award, and the more complicating and exacting award standing under HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point), the tough standards yardstick adopted by all European Union (EU) countries covering imports to those destinations.

Early last week Chairman Speed Water Systems, Nalin Delgoda, and Managing Director of the Company, Nishantha Delgoda briefed the media on their achievement - the stringent in-house exactitude maintained to achieve this qualification.

Although there were other players, Nalin Delgoda, a former DIG, said Speed is the first water company in Sri Lanka to achieve the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) ISO 22000 HACCP for food safety management system certification and ISO 9001.

The company produces approximately 10,000 19 liter bottles of water each day. Monthly production is in the region of 5.7 million liters. He said the shelf- life of their water is about six months.

"We have to maintain our credibility and image for production and distribution of a good product where the error percentage is nearly non existent", said Nishantha Delgoda, Speed’s Managing Director.

Additionally, he said the company had built a credible image of sustained standards and at this point in time could not cause any doubts in consumer minds to have misgivings or distrust the product. HACCP certification based on EU standards is an additional plus projecting that reflection.

Answering questions from the press, Delgoda said their water source is approximately 15 kilometers from Colombo, and their bottling plant constantly adhered to reputed high standards clinically administered at all stages of production.

Chairman Sri Lanka Standards Institution Dr. A. R. L. Wijesekera said although SLS certification is a voluntary standards recognition for bottled water, it proves that these products had attained that degree of credibility in consumer markets. The certification awarded would give the products effect and promote consumer confidence.

He said there are about 122 registered companies producing bottled water in Sri Lanka.