“Jam Jar” water scam on the rise, warns Gozone

A typical GoZone water kiosk located at major retailers countrywide Photo: Ian Wright

GoZone Water, a provider of bulk drinking water to consumers, has warned residents of communities across South Africa that incidents of the so-called “Jam Jar” water scam are on the rise.

The company’s John Oort says as the municipal water supply creaks under the strain of the country’s burgeoning population and the flight of key technical skills to the private sector, companies supplying reverse-osmosis (RO) home water treatment systems are keen to exploit vulnerable home owners.

“RO is a legitimate way to purify home drinking water. However, the downside is that it removes both impurities and beneficial minerals simultaneously. Sales representatives from the RO home water treatment companies turn this downside into a perceived plus with the jam jar test,” said Mr Oort.

He explained that the sales reps show the homeowner two jam jars. One is filled with normal municipal water. The other is filled with RO water treated with the company’s home treatment kit. An electrical current is then passed through both jars of water. Because the RO water contains fewer beneficial minerals, there is little to conduct the electricity and it stays virtually the same colour. However, the untreated municipal water still contains many beneficial minerals which effectively conduct electricity and therefore turn the water brown.

“Think of this as the difference between high-fibre, nutrient-packed healthy brown bread, and processed unhealthy white bread. Do not be persuaded that the colour change is an indication of impurities in the water,” said Mr Oort.

He further explained that GoZone Water is termed ‘prepared water’ and the company’s GoZone water kiosks have already found favour with several owners of Pick ‘n Pay family franchises around the country. Shoppers are able to bring any size of water container to the retail kiosks and have them filled with oxygenated water purified by a proprietary reverse-osmosis process that includes reintroducing healthy minerals to the water at just one rand a litre.

According to Mr Oort: “We reintroduce healthy minerals back into the water we sell as an alternative to municipal home drinking water.” The company’s ozonated drinking water refill kiosks last year made an appearance in supermarkets as consumers were confronted with the reality of dry taps. Home owners in suburbs affected by water-shedding were able to call their local retailer to check if a GoZone bulk water kiosk had been rolled-out in their area.