The Hindu Business Line : `Bring drinking water under the definition of food'

The world water day was celebrated the other day. But, how serious are we in ensuring supply of potable water, the elixir of life, to the population in the country. It is evident from the fact that even today, 55 years after independence, we do not have a legally enforceable standard to define clean potable water.

The drinking water standards were laid down by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in 1983 and were revised and updated in 1991(IS 10500) and, at present, these standards are again under revision. Unlike the drinking water quality standards in many of the countries, which are legally enforceable, these standards are only recommendatory and not mandatory here. Hence municipal water supply authorities and those in the business of supplying potable water could not be held responsible for the bad quality of their supplies.

Though a parliamentary committee suggested in 1996 to include treated water supplied through local authorities under the category of `food', till date, this has not been adhered to, presumably for want of adequate understanding of the importance of this national issue among the policy planners, Dr M.P.S. Nair, a technocrat and an expert on Pollution Control told Business Line.

The United Nations warns that 80 per cent of diseases in developing countries result from unsafe water. A WHO report says that the water consumed by more than one billion people is unsafe. Global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, more than twice the rate of human population growth. In fact, within 25 years, half the world's population could have trouble finding enough freshwater for drinking and irrigation.

Currently, over 80 countries, representing 40 per cent of the world's population, are subject to serious water shortages. West Asia faces the greatest threat. Over 90 per cent of the region's population is experiencing severe water stress, with water consumption exceeding 10 per cent of renewable freshwater resources.

As much as 90 per cent of wastewater in developing countries, including India, is discharged without treatment into rivers and streams. The BIS stipulate levels of control in terms of analysis and tests that have to be carried out on the given frequency for various parameters. The Union Government in last July revised the PFA Rules and reset the pesticide residues in packaged drinking water as 0.0001 milligram per litre (mg/l) when considered individually and the total pesticide residues as 0.0005 mg/l effective January 2004. The BIS has also established new norms for residues of 32 different pesticides. Necessary changes were prescribed in the testing procedures to improve its reliability. But, these standards shall not be limited to bottled water alone, as after all only a small segment of the society consumes it, he said. To ensure sustained availability of good quality drinking water to all with in the limits of the existing resources integrated water use and conservation, rainwater harvesting and revival of traditional technologies are important in planning for future development of water resources. A participatory approach is needed in local level watershed development and management.

Authorities intended for prevention of pollution shall take better care to ward off pollution and ensure stringent monitoring and control. The immediate requirement is to bring the specifications of drinking water supplied by all agencies under the definition of `food', he added.

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