New Delhi (NVI): The tap water of Delhi and 13 state capitals is “undrinkable” and among all states, National Capital is at the bottom in the quality of such water with its 11 out of 11 samples failing on 19 parameters, according to a government study.
This is the finding of a study undertaken by Department of Consumer Affairs through the Bureau of India Standards (BIS) on the quality of piped drinking water being supplied in the country. The study also ranked the States, Smart Cities and even Districts based on the quality of tap water.
The report was released by Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan here today. Paswan said the Union Government wants to make BIS Standards mandatory for Tap Water so as to ensure quality drinking water for all households.
According to the Report, in the first phase, the samples of drinking water were drawn from various locations across Delhi and in the second phase samples were drawn from 20 State capitals and sent for testing as per Indian Standard 10500:2012 (Specification for Drinking Water) as set by the BIS.
Tests were conducted on various parameters such as Organoleptic and Physical Tests, Chemical test, Toxic substances and Bacteriological tests in the first stage.
A vast majority of the samples have failed to comply with the requirements of IS 10500:2012 in one or more parameters.
In Delhi, all the 11 samples drawn from various places did not comply with the requirements of the Indian Standard & failed on several parameters, report said in a statement.
All the 10 samples drawn from Mumbai were found to comply with the requirements.
In the cities of Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Raipur, Amravati and Shimla, one or more samples did not comply with the requirements of the Standard and none of the samples drawn from 13 of the State Capitals– Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, Bhopal, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Jammu, Jaipur, Dehradun, Chennai and Kolkata– complied with the requirements of the Indian Standard.
Addressing media after releasing the report, Paswan said that all should get clean drinking water and that has been the objective of this activity.
He said that the objective is not to demotivate anyone rather it to encourage State Governments to ensure quality potable tap water to all citizens.
Paswan further added that in the third phase, samples from Capital cities of North Eastern States and Smart Cities identified by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs have been drawn and are being tested.
The result of these are expected by 15th January 2020. While in the fourth phase, it is proposed to test samples drawn from all the district headquarters of the country and their testing is planned to be completed by 15th August 2020.
-sb
