nWhat could be seen as a sigh of relief for Raipurians, the capital city has been ranked fifth in a survey of tap water quality across the country and the drinking water supplied here was far better than many metropolitan cities of the country.
Samples of all the state capitals were taken by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to test the water quality of tap water under drinking water specification.
According to a Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) study, Mumbai ranks the highest in the quality of water among capital cities in the country where samples of tap water were tested. In Mumbai, all 10 samples of tap water passed the BIS test. Surprisingly the national capital finishes at bottom and the samples collected from there failed in all the 19parameters.
Second in the list is Hyderabad, where only one sample failed. However, at the bottom of the list is Delhi, where all 11 samples failed the BIS test — thereby reaffirming that the capital city has the poorest water quality, the BIS study said.
The Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan, on Saturday said, "Mumbai tops the ranking released by the Bureau of Indian Standards for quality of tap water. Delhi at the bottom, with 11 out of 11 samples failed on 19 parameters."
The Minister later released the much-awaited investigation report of samples of drinking water taken from capitals of 20 states across the country.
Notably, the IS 10500:2012 prescribes 48 parameters including radioactive substance but radioactive substance has been excluded from this exercise.
Test reports of Virological and Biological parameters (three parameters) have been received for Delhi only. All samples tested to conform to these three parameters. Test reports for other 20 cities for virological and biological are awaited. Test reports of microbiological and chemical tests have been received.
Cities have been first categorized on the number of conforming samples out of those tested. Cities which have the same number of conforming samples have been further categorized on the basis of individual parameters in which samples have been non-conforming.
Free residual chlorine has been excluded from this exercise since it is applicable only when water is chlorinated and a minimum limit has been prescribed for it. The BIS study was titled 'Categorization of Cities on the basis of Reports of Samples of IS 10500: 2012 (Drinking Water-Specification) Drawn from Capital of States'.
