Chandigarh tap water is undrinkable; 10/10 samples failed in a report released by Centre govt
KI Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
Chandigarh failed in all the 10 samples drawn by the Bureau of India Standards (BIS) on the quality of piped drinking water being supplied in the city, as per the requirements of the Indian Standard. Tests were conducted on various parameters such as Organoleptic and Physical Tests, Chemical test, Toxic substances and Bacteriological tests in the first stage.
In a report released by Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan said “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 capital sand sent for testing as per Indian Standard 10500:2012 (Specification for Drinking Water) as set by the BIS.
In Delhi, all the 11 samples drawn from various places did not comply with the requirements of the Indian Standard& 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.
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 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 is 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. Paswan also said that the Union Government wants to make BIS Standards mandatory for Tap Water so as to ensure quality drinking water for all households.
