Only 2% Indians get water fit for drinking in their taps: Survey

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Nov 03, 2022: Even as India Water Week is being observed from November 1-5, clean drinking water continues to remain a pipe dream for many.

 

Only 2% Indian households get drinkable quality water from their local body and 65% are using some kind of modern filtration mechanism, revealed a survey conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, on Wednesday. When asked how they rate the quality of piped water that comes to their home from the local municipal/water department or panchayat, 5% said “very poor” and 15% “poor”. What’s more, 5% said they don’t get piped water at their home.

And how do they purify water at home for drinking, cooking and other purposes? A total of 34% use a water purifier; 31% a RO system; 1% use chlorination, alum and other minerals; 14% do so by “boiling” and 5% use clay vessels. There were 7% of households who don’t purify water and get bottled water supply, the findings indicated.

“The government must consider forming mandatory standards for potable water supply to be followed by all local bodies and give them a few years to comply. Once the majority has complied, the standards must be published for public reference, checks and balances,” said Sachin Taparia, the founder of LocalCircles.

It is estimated that around 37.7 million Indians are affected by water-borne diseases annually; 1.5 million children die of diarrhoea alone and 73 million working days are lost due to water-borne diseases each year, according to a study published in BMC Public Health Journal in May this year.

“More than 6% of Indian population lack access to safe water,” according to Water.org, a global civil society organisation.

Based on 2017 government data, a Unicef report stated that only 50% of the population in India has access to safe drinking water that is free from chemical contamination, or presence of dangerous levels of toxins.

Courtesy: India Today