‘Tap Water In Bhubaneswar, 16 Other State Capitals Unsafe For Drinking’

New Delhi: If you do not like taking enough care to purify water from public water faucets, then here’s some bad news for you. Samples drawn from tap water in the Smart City and 16 other State capitals are not as per the specifications 'Indian Standard (IS)-10500:2012' for drinking water, reports a study by the Union government.

The second phase study conducted by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under the aegis of the Consumer Affairs Ministry states that the samples collected from Bhubaneswar failed in one parameter, Chloramines a group of chemical compounds that contain chlorine/ammonia and used for disinfection of water.

Apart from Bhubaneswar, one or more samples did not comply with the requirements of the IS in the cities of Hyderabad, Ranchi, Raipur, Amravati and Shimla.

For instance, the sample in Hyderabad failed in one parameter 'phenolic compounds' while Chandigarh in two parameters 'Aluminium and Coliform'.

Other metro cities of Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai failed in almost 10 out of 11 quality parameters but surprisingly, in Mumbai, all the 10 samples of piped water were found to comply with all 11 parameters.

In Chennai, all 10 samples failed in nine parameters like turbidity, odour, total hardness, chloride, fluoride, Ammonia, Boron and Coliform, while all nine samples in Kolkata failed in 10 quality parameters, the study showed.

According to the study, testing was conducted to check Organoleptic and physical parameters and know the chemical and toxic substances and bacteriological quality besides virological and biological parameters.

Releasing the findings of the second phase study, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said, "Out of 20 state capitals, all the 10 samples of piped water drawn from Mumbai were found to comply with all 11 parameters, while other cities are failing in one or more."

The solution to this problem is to make compliance of quality standards for piped water mandatory across the country. The ministry has written to state governments in this regard, he told reporters.

"Stringent actions cannot be taken as the quality standards for piped water at present are not mandatory. Once it becomes, we can take actions," Paswan added.

In the third phase, BIS Director-General Pramod Kumar Tiwari said, samples from the capital cities of northeastern states and from 100 smart cities will be tested and their results are expected by January 15, 2020.

In the fourth phase, it is proposed to test samples from all the district headquarters of the country and the results are expected by August 15, 2020, he added.