80% of Jeddah shops selling unhygienic water

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Almost 80% of purifying water stores inspected in Jeddah over the last two weeks have been shut down because they failed to meet basic water hygiene standards, according to officials at the Saudi Arabian city's municipality.

"Out of 250 water stores in Jeddah, we have so far visited 70 in a campaign to ensure they abide by purification standards. Unfortunately, we had to close 55 stores because the water they were selling was not hygienic," said Mahmoud Kinsarah, head of the licensing and commercial monitoring department at Jeddah Municipality, Arab News reported.

Purified water stores are located across the city and sell water brought in from places such as local wells and that is then sanitised for human consumption.

However, there have been problems with the quality of water being sold out of these stores and the government has warned the public to be careful.

The municipality is currently making a push to raise the hygiene standards of drinking water throughout the city and has signed a SR 6 million ($1.59 million) contract to set up a laboratory to inspect the quality of food and health products, as well as drinking water.

The laboratory measures the level of chlorine and bacteria in drinking water.

Kinsarah said municipality officials would pay weekly visits to all water sources impose a SR 5,000 ($1,333) fine on any stores found not to meet water purification standards.

The stores that have been shut down will be given the opportunity to clean their water containers and bring their purification systems up to standard, he added.

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