Paswan releases Water Quality Report for State Capitals & Delhi as analysed by BIS

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has always emphasised on providing quality products to consumers which includes providing clean & safe drinking water to all. This is also in line with Jal Jeevan Mission announced by PM Narendra Modi which aims to provide tap water to all households by 2024.

In order to ensure that clean and safe drinking water is provided to all, Department of Consumer Affairs decided to undertake a study through the Bureau of India Standards (BIS) on the quality of piped drinking water being supplied in the country and also rank the States, Smart Cities, and even Districts based on the quality of tap water.

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 11samples drawn from various places did not comply with the requirements of the Indian Standard and failed on several parameters. 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 i.e. Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, Bhopal, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Jammu, Jaipur, Dehradun, Chennai, Kolkata complied with the requirements of the Indian Standard, according to a PIB release.

Addressing media after releasing the report, Paswan said that all should get clean drinking water and that is 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 said 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 January 15, 2020. 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 August 15, 2020. Paswan also said that the Union Government wants to make BIS Standards mandatory for Tap Water to ensure quality drinking water to all households.