The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : `Uniform guidelines needed to ensure drinking water quality'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 26, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

`Uniform guidelines needed to ensure drinking water quality'

Staff Reporter

"Agencies use different parameters resulting in confusion"

CHENNAI: In the absence of uniform standards for drinking water quality, the guidelines prescribed by different Government Departments are used by user organisations. But parameters prescribed by the agencies are different, often leading to a confusing scenario.

Difficulty in demarcating health-significant parameters and the non-health factors also gave room for consumer complaints. So it is important to evolve uniform guidelines for drinking water.

These were some of the points raised by C.K. Gariyali, Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply, at the inaugural session of a national workshop on Assessment of Current and Futuristic Water Quality Standards in India.

WHO guidelines

Delivering the inaugural address, she pointed out that the parameters prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards, the Central Public Health Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), a division of Union Urban Development Ministry, and the Indian Council for Medical Research were often found to be varying. Guidelines laid down by the World Health Organisation too depended on factors such as consumption level, body weight, climatic conditions and uncertainty factors. "There is need to have a wider discussion on the subject and review the guidelines prescribed by WHO and other agencies," she added.

Giving an example, Ms. Gariyali said WHO had no guideline value for alkalinity while BIS and CPHEEO prescribed 600 mg per litre. But even water with alkalinity of 400 to 500 mg/L caused problems in cooking rice, pulses and meat.

The maximum limit for total dissolved solids is 2,000 mg/L but consumers often complained about the taste and acceptability of water if the limit exceeds 1,000 mg/L.

She suggested formulation of separate guidelines for drinking water and water used for other domestic purposes.

She said self-help groups in villages and local institutions could be taught to assess the quality of water at the local sources to ensure regular review of water quality.

A.K. Sengupta, representative of the WHO, said the world body was seeking to develop a strong laboratory network to have regular surveillance over the water quality and disease outbreaks. It was working with National Environmental Engineering Research Institute and National Institute of Communicable Diseases to develop a standardised laboratory manual.

Madan Nanoti, Deputy Director and Head, Geo-Environment Management Division, NEERI, said standard setting should be customised to the country's specific needs.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News Update

Stories in this Section

State Crime Records Bureau office gets new building

Are cinema houses safe enough?

Norms on filing bulk applications for inclusion in voter list

`Uniform guidelines needed to ensure drinking water quality'

Elevated corridors coming up on Ambattur industrial estate

Singapore as education hub

Schools challenge closure notice

Hunt on for carpenter

CBSE: Chennai students fare well again

Formulate comprehensive admission policy: Vasan

Orders on bail pleas of Raghu, Sundaresa Iyer on May 31

Mock fire drill conducted at Spencer Plaza

Around the City

In Chennai Today