Are you sure that the water you drink is safe?
A report of March 2014 shows that India has been able to
achieve 91 percent coverage in improved water supplies so that consumers can
have safe drinking water. However, at a recent meeting of the Central Consumer
Protection Council (CCPC),Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan
stated that “the water supplied by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is not safe for
consumption as prescribed quality standards are not being met”. If this is the
state of water in the capital of the nation then what must be the situation in
other parts of the country. The very fact that private water purifying companies
do a brisk business of selling all kinds of water purifying filters to
homeowners all over India adds credence to the statement of the minister, that
tap water is not safe to drink.
While access to drinking water in India has increased,
the negative impact of unsafe water on health continues not only because
supplied water is contaminated but also because of unhygienic water collection
and storage, especially in the low income group households. E-colia strain of the faecal coliform
bacteria is just one of the thousands of contaminants that can affect drinking
water. Various chemicals like nitrates, arsenic, lead, excessive fluoride, pesticides,
and fertilizers are also sources that contaminate drinking water. The number of
toxin pathogens and chemicals in water can be as many as a few thousand. The
health risks associated with chemical contamination of drinking water are skin
lesions, various types of cancer, liver and kidney damage, damage to the
nervous system, suppression of the immune system, and birth defects.Nitrate
contamination leads to blue baby syndrome because it reduces oxygen in the
blood leading to baby deaths
A World Resources report states that more than 70 percent
of India’s water supply is contaminated. The main sources of water contaminants
are basically animal and human faeces, improper use of chemicals, pesticides
and fertilizers and floods that happen almost every year also contaminates
water. India has not yet been able to manage the disposal of faeces in a safe
manner and hence the water supply gets contaminated with pathogens that cause diarrheal
diseases, typhoid, jaundice, cholera, etc. A United Nations report states that
in India more than one lakh people die of water-borne diseases annually. The
ground water in India is not fit for drinking because it contains fluoride,
arsenic and iron in amounts above tolerance levels and in coastal regions water
has become brackish because of drilling deeper for agricultural purposes
allowing seawater to invade it. As a result of some of these contaminantsmillions
of people are suffering from fluorosis and others from arsenicosis caused by
arsenic, especially in rural West Bengal.
The United Nations report places India almost at the
bottom of the list of countries supplying water that is poor in quality. However,
the poorer populations living in rural India have great faith in public water system
and the common public that lives in urban India is unaware of the quality of
their drinking water. The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Ram Vilas Paswanis
right when he categorically states that the drinking water in Delhi is not
consumable.If the “treated” water supplied by theJalNigams of the various
citieswere to be tested for contamination you would find that contaminants are above
the accepted levels.Voicing his concerns about providing safe and pure water to
consumers the Minister, even went so far as to say that the Food Safety
and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) should formulate regulations for water
being supplied through the pipeline and also monitor the quality. Presently FSSAI
does not have regulations for piped water but has issued guidelines for FBOs on
Packaged Drinking Water.
In order to run a packaged water plant valid licenses are
required from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the Food Safety &
Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The BIS has in total 21 Major Policy
Guidelines on Certification of Packaged Drinking Water and Packaged Natural
Mineral Water. Importantly, packaged drinking water needs to conform to
guidelines issued by both the FSSAI and BIS. A valid water
testing report from an FSSAI
notified and NABL accredited laboratory is one of the most important documents
without which no license can be given for running a packaged water plant.
Ironically a random survey conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
indicated that packaged drinking water may not be as safe as consumers think. On
an all India basis when packaged water samples were tested then more than 800
samples failed the quality test. Some of the plants that were checked by FDA
did not have laboratories to check water potability and many did not have water
testing reports from any accredited labs to sustain their claims.
In India, people suffer because regulations are weak or
not applied strictly and their awareness of their rights to safe water supply
is low. Even if people are aware that the water supply is unsafe there is
nothing they can do except use their own private water filters or boil their
water because the water supplied by municipalities could be dangerous for
health. In fact there are a number of consumers that believe that packaged
drinking water is safer. “Packaged Drinking Water” has therefore flooded the
Indian market in recent years but all of it might not be safe as already stated.
Remember that bottled drinking water without BIS certification is not safe to
drink.Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Ram Vilas Paswan has also drawn the
attention of consumers to the fact that packaged water cannot be charged above
maximum retail price (MRP) as there seems to be a tendency to charge higher
rates for packaged drinking water at hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, railway
stations, bus stops and at airports. He has asked consumers to file a complaint
if the packaged drinking water is being sold at prices higher than MRP.
Another common mistake consumers make is that they think that“packaged
drinking water” and “mineral water” is both the same thing. They could not be
more wrong because these are both different types of water since they come from
different sources and bothhave different standards for purification of the
water. One is “Packaged Drinking Water” and the other is “Packaged Natural
Mineral Water”.
The source of ‘Packaged Natural Mineral Water’ is natural
because it has been obtained directly from lakes, rivers or drilled from
underground water-bearing strata, spring water and is free fromcontaminants. Since
it is packaged close to the source it is also therefore more expensive. “Packaged
Drinking Water” on the other hand is obtained from potable water in taps,
ground water like bore-well, and public drinking water systems such as
municipality supply.This type of water is treated,demineralised and disinfected
so it is safe to drink and it could also contain artificially added minerals. Packaged
drinking water is tested more extensively for impurities and for chemical
contaminants, pesticide residues, heavy metals, etc.
Article 47 in the Constitution of India confers the duty
of providing clean drinking water and improving public health standards on the
government. A paper published by ‘Water
Aid’ says that despite an estimated total of Rs.1105 billion spent on providing
safe drinking water since the First Five Year Plan was launched in 1951, lack
of safe and secure drinking water continues to be a major hurdle and a national
economic burden. It seems that managing
safe water supply with continued pressure on the ground water level and the
appearance of new contaminants like persistent organic pollutants (POPs) will
remain a challenge for India and unless there are more stringent measures, the
consumer could continue to drink piped water that is unsafe.