Five-gallon water bottles in Dubai are set to be tracked for safety as Dubai Municipality is rolling out a new smart labelling and tracking system.

A smart labelling system which will help detect safety of the water will be implemented in all bottled water manufacturing companies in the emirate within two months, a senior official said.

It will help consumers and inspectors in Dubai check the safety of the five-gallon water bottles and make sure they do not cross the limit for refilling since reusing the polycarbonate plastic bottles above the permitted limit can harm the health of the consumers. Overused bottles can release carcinogenic and endocrine disruptive compounds in drinking water.

The project was announced in August. It is a joint venture of the Food Safety Department in the civic body and SICPA, a Swiss company that will provide smart solutions for the project.

They include a mobile application through which consumers and inspectors can verify details of these water bottles, specifically the number of times the bottles have been refilled.

Dubai Municipality has set the number of maximum refilling at 33 to ensure safety of the water, a senior official had said during the announcement of the project in August.

This can be checked through the smart labels on the bottles. With the implementation of the technology in the factories, bottles that have crossed the limit will be automatically rejected from the production line.

Essam Sayed Sharaf Al Hashemi, head of control, Food Trade Section in the Food Safety Department told Gulf News that the smart label engraving project at the bottled water factories would be complete within six to eight weeks.

“After that, we will give a grace period of six months to the companies to implement it. Then it will be made mandatory.”

Al Hashemi hoped that the smart labelling and tracking system can improve the traceability system in a smart way. Though the municipal inspectors have already been monitoring the handling and storage of five gallon water bottles, it is difficult for them to manually verify the number of times a bottle gets refilled.

The mobile app for customers will be launched during the implementation stage. Inspectors will be provided with a special device to read additional information about the product.

Once the app is launched, customers will be able to read product details, company name, brand name and other information related to the water bottle.

It will also empower consumers to scan the bottles themselves to confirm their origin, other product information and detect uncertified products, officials had earlier said during the announcement of the project.

In the following months, several water companies reportedly changed their old five gallon bottles in anticipation of inspections and penalties.

Al Hashemi said it was a good sign. “They have to get rid of the old bottles. We should have only good bottles in the market for the safety and benefit of the consumers. We provided all details of the project and its timeline to all the water companies through a circular in August.”

He said companies can opt for using disposable five gallon bottles if they can ensure they are recycled properly. “We won’t allow dumping the bottles.”

There will be strict action taken against companies if they are not following the rule once it becomes mandatory by next year and if they are found tampering with the smart labelling and tracking system.