Bait for the naive. Filter sellers continue to scare Vitebsk residents with poor water quality in the city

Our reader Zhanna Pokryshkina shared an almost detective story that happened to her in her letter. She received a call to her mobile phone. The caller, introducing himself as an employee of a water quality control organization in Vitebsk, offered to test the drinking water in the reader's apartment. He asked for her address and to be home at the appointed time.

Zhanna didn't quite understand what kind of organization it was. And when she called back, she found out that it was not a state structure at all. Therefore, she clearly stated that she did not trust commercial structures on such matters and asked them not to come to her. As for the "friends" who provided her personal phone number, she filed a report with the police. They only replied that this was not the first such complaint against the firm they were considering.

All the "inspections" eventually ended with advertising water filters. At the same time, the "controllers" "fiddled" with the analyses, showing how many "impurities" were in the water. It turned out to be convincing. A naive person would swallow the "bait" and buy a filter.

We want to talk about the quality of water consumed by Vitebsk residents. And we will refer not to dubious firms and their experiments, but to laboratory data held by the water utility employees.

— Our water undergoes daily control at all four intakes for chemical, microbiological, and radiological indicators, — says Lyudmila Zubrenkova, head of the laboratory of UP "Vitebskvodokanal". — And for organoleptic indicators and iron content in water — twice a day. As is known, the iron content in one liter should not exceed the established norm, which is 0.3 milligrams. Water is a living organism that should contain various minerals; that's what makes it valuable. There are sanitary rules and requirements for the physiological completeness of drinking water. After filtration, and we tested such water, it lost this completeness; for example, the hardness indicator did not exceed 0.6 millimoles per cubic decimeter, while the norm requires it to be no less than 1.6. Another issue is that our water (and not from all wells) exceeds the iron content norm. At iron removal stations, this indicator is brought to the norm. That's all. There should be no further interference, otherwise the water quality will begin to "suffer". Even in hot weather, water in Vitebsk is not chlorinated anywhere; there is no need for it.

Prepared by Elena BASHUN, "Vitbichi"