In a bid to provide safe drinking water, the Centre will soon start a consultation process to make compliance of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) quality standard mandatory for tap water. It will begin with State capitals, national capital and 100 smart cities in the country. A team of BIS officials has been sent to the state capitals to collect the samples of tap water and test if they comply with the BIS quality standard.
According to Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, the ministry will seek views from the state governments in this regard. The Centre will then figure out the way to make the BIS standard mandatory. “It cannot be done across the country at one go, we will go step by step,” he added.
Paswan also mentioned that India’s BIS standard on tap water is not at par with the international standard and directed the BIS officials to study if it can match the global quality norms. Currently, the BIS quality standards are mandatory for only packed drinking water and 140-odd other products.
On the BIS collecting samples of tap water, the minister said that a team of BIS has already been sent to state capitals to collect the samples of tap water. “This will take a month. The report will come by November first week. We will get to know which state supplies safe drinking water at least in the capital city. The ranking will be given,” Paswan added.
The BIS that frames quality norms for products and services and works under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, has set standards for the drinking water but are voluntary in nature. With regard to quality of tap water in Delhi, Paswan said the preliminary investigation shows that samples collected randomly from 11 areas in the national capital do not comply with the BIS standard and not safe for drinking.
“After looking at the preliminary report of tap water supplied in Delhi, we are thinking of making mandatory the BIS standards on tap water at least in the national capital, state capitals and 100 smart cities,” Paswan said.
The Delhi government and Jal Board authorities have no reservations on making the BIS standard mandatory for tap water, he said adding that the samples include water collected from his house (10, Janpath) and the office in Krishi Bhawan.
The lab report was discussed in a meeting with senior officials of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), BIS, Union Jal Shakti Ministry and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), he said.