18/11/2019 - Environment

KEY POINTS

Reasons

·       The report of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution red-flagging tap water quality in major Indian cities comes as no surprise, given that many official water distribution agencies routinely advise consumers to consume only boiled water.

·       Going by the matrix of tests carried out by the Bureau of Indian Standards for the Ministry, Delhi has abysmal water quality, Chennai and Kolkata rank very low, and Mumbai is the only city with acceptable results.

·       Their lack of initiative could be attributed partly to the expanding footprint of packaged drinking water, especially in populous cities, coupled with the high dependence on groundwater in fast-growing urban clusters where State provision of piped water systems does not exist.

·       The Indian standard has a plethora of quality requirements, including absence of viruses, parasites and microscopic organisms, and control over levels of toxic substances.

·       But in practice, municipal water fails these tests due to the lack of accountability of the official agencies, and the absence of robust data in the public domain on quality testing.

·       Making it legally binding on agencies to achieve standards and empowering consumers with rights is essential, because State governments would then take an integrated view of housing, water supply, sanitation and waste management.

·       A scientific approach to water management is vital, considering that 21 cities — including many of those found to have unclean tap water — could run out of groundwater as early as 2020, as per a NITI Aayog report.

·       If data on water are made public on the same lines as air quality, it would ratchet up pressure on governments to act.

Plzz review sir

Kindly review sir!!!

Please review. Thank you.

Kindly review