NEW DELHI : Delhi is drinking the most unsafe water in the country, a government study has revealed.

The Department of Consumer Affairs on Saturday released the findings of a study that was conducted through the Bureau of India Standards (BIS) on the quality of piped drinking water being supplied in the country and also rank the States, Smart Cities and even Districts based on the quality of tap water.

In the first phase, the samples of drinking water were drawn from various locations across Delhi and in the second phase samples were drawn from 20 State capitals and sent for testing as per Indian Standard 10500:2012 (Specification for Drinking Water) as set by the BIS.

Tests were conducted on various parameters such as Organoleptic and Physical Tests,Chemical test, Toxic substances and Bacteriological tests in the first stage.

A vast majority of the samples have failed to comply with the requirements of IS 10500:2012 in one or more parameters, the study report said.

In Delhi, all the 11 samples drawn from various places did not comply with the requirements of the Indian Standard and failed on several parameters, the report said.

Mumbai setting an example for clean drinking water, the study found that all the 10 samples drawn from the city were found to comply with the requirements. In the cities of Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Raipur, Amravati and Shimla, one or more samples did not comply with the requirements of the Standard and none of the samples drawn from 13 of the State Capitals i.e. Chandigarh,Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, Bhopal, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Jammu, Jaipur, Dehradun, Chennai, Kolkata complied with the requirements of the Indian Standard.

“All should get clean drinking water and that is the objective of this activity. The objective is not to demotivate anyone rather it to encourage State Governments to ensure quality potable tap water to all citizens," said Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

“In the third phase, samples from Capital cities of North Eastern States and SmartCities identified by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs have been drawn and are being tested. The result of these are expected by 15th January 2020. While in the fourth phase, it is proposed to test samples drawn from all the district headquarters of the country and their testing is planned to be completed by 15th August 2020,"he said.

Paswan further said that Union Government wants to make BIS Standards mandatory for Tap Water so as to ensure quality drinking water for all households.

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