How safe is tap water in India, Availability of safe drinking water in India

Many in India are worried about the availability of safe drinking water in India. Some of the most common questions about the water in India are "is it safe to drink tap water in India" or "how safe is bottled water in India" or "is it safe to drink boiled tap water in India". We will answer each of these questions below.

The people are not sure of the safety of drinking water in India, both about the safety of tap water in India and about the quality and safety of bottled water in India. There are so many newspaper reports about the bad quality of the water in India, so it is but natural that we are worried about our water quality. The best solution is to fit a Reverse Osmosis filter or an RO water filter to filter the tap water in our homes and work places.

Is tap water safe to drink in India

Many cities and villages in India have very good potable water being supplied by the Municipal Water departments, but this is not true in all the cities and villages of India. Also the quality of the water is not regular, there may be times, even for short periods, when bad water quality could come out the taps. So it is important to be on your safeguard when drinking water straight from a tap in India.

As to what could be the problem with the tap water in India, the reasons could be many. Sometimes it is only rusty or muddy discoloured water which can be purified by using a simple cartridge type filter. But sometimes the water could be contaminated with deadly bacteria. Such water could be purified with a UV water filter. Infections caused by water borne bacteria are easily curable with modern day antibiotics and other medicines. The most problematic water is when there are dissolved chemicals like Arsenic or other heavy metals or Nitrates in water. These deadly poisonous chemicals in water can only be removed by a Reverse Osmosis RO water filter of purifier. There are several pages on this website explaining in detail about water contaminant impurities and how they can be removed by water filter purifiers.

Is bottled water in India safe?

Drinking bottled water in India may not be that safe, unless you are sure that it is an absolutely genuine product. You cannot rely on the bottled water available in public places in India, because of the rampant refilling of used bottled water bottles by the racketeers in India. We quote below exerts from articles published by some well known Newspapers:

To quote from an article published on September 7, 2014 by the internationally well known Newspaper 'Gulf News' titled "India: More than 10,000 illegal bottled water units in Delhi put lives at risk" says "New Delhi/Noida: More than 10,000 illegal packaged water bottling units are operating in the National Capital Region, often using the labels of the 64 licensed manufacturers, putting the health of millions of people at risk, say industry officials. But local health officials seem oblivious of the danger to people’s health and safety.
It may sound horrific but only 64 water bottling plants have the licence to supply packed drinking water in the national capital and the NCR,” said Pankaj Aggarwal, the president of the Bottled Water Processors Association.
It’s a big reason for worry. Despite not getting clearances from the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS), supplies from such unlicensed plants is equal to the quantity of bottles supplied by the licensed plants,” Aggarwal said.
Such illegal units are mostly located in slums and congested bylines of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. They hardly meet the standards of water purification, but escape getting checked by government officials due to their location.
In a recent case, cockroaches were found in water drums supplied to the headquarters of the East Delhi Municipal Corp. After a probe, the supplier was found to be an illegal operator. But the unit could not be traced as there was no record with the industry association. In another case, a house fly was found in water supplied to a media organisation in Noida.
"If the condition of Delhi is like this, then what will be the situation in the other parts of the country. But I do not have any official data on it", union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said ......More"

A 'Times-of-India' article published on January 28, 2015 reads as follows: "MUMBAI: High levels of certain carcinogens were found in bottled drinking water samples in Mumbai", according to a study conducted by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Trombay.
A BARC team of four scientists checked 90 samples from 18 brands of bottled water sold by various manufacturers in the city. They found 27% samples contained higher than World Health Organisation-permitted limits of bromates, a salt containing bromide that is a by-product of the disinfection. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies bromates as Group 2B carcinogens that could possibly cause cancer in humans. Some samples had bromate levels four times the WHO limit of 10 microgram per litre.
The BARC findings were published in the January 10 issue of Current Science Journal, a peer-reviewed Indian science journal. Its objective was to check the water for chemical by-products caused by disinfecting processes.
Using ozone, for instance, can form bromates if the water had bromine to begin with. Similarly, certain hypochloride salts can lead to the formation of chlorites and chlorates that are known to affect red blood cells of mice. "Bottled water is in many cases drawn from ground water, which, in our country, is known to contain heavy metals that can cause chronic diseases like dementia, heart problems as well as hypertension," said Dr Altaf Patel from Jaslok Hospital, who conducted several studies on heavy metal poisoning.
The bottled water industry, which has faced allegations of the presence of toxins, isn't convinced. Ramesh Chauhan, chairman of Bisleri International, said, "Is the problem with packing or water? If it's the latter, then it's the city water that is bad. There have been no objections with bottles.'' He said the city's piped drinking water contains chlorine which is harmful. "We don't allow chlorine in our process, but we do use ozone for disinfection,'' he added.
............... In 2003, the Delhi-based Centre for Science & Environment showed that bottled water had pesticide residues. Studies in Chennai a few years back showed high levels of microbes, including diarrhea-causing E-coli. While the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has since set stringent standards on the presence of chemicals and radioactive substances in bottled water, these don't include disinfection byproducts such as bromates and chlorates .....More"

Does boiling water in India make it safe to drink

Boiling water before drinking in India makes it safe in the majority of cases. Boiling water kills all the bacteria present in water and the bacterial contamination of water is the most common problem with the water in India. The only case where boiling water in India before drinking may not be safe is when the water is contaminated with dissolved chemicals like Arsenic and other heavy metals. Such contamination is almost not there in any of the public water supplies in India, but could be a problem if it is in well water being used. Water contaminated with Arsenic and other heavy metals do not have any smell or discoloration and so it is not possible to say whether well water is contaminated with Arsenic unless a lab test is done. For more on the dangers of Arsenic and heavy metals visit our page on Dangers of heavy metals like Arsenic.

Best way to buy Water Purifiers in India

The best way to buy Water Purifiers in India is to first look at all models of Water Purifiers available online at the leading online Retailers in India. For example on the online webpage of All Water Purifiers available in India on Amazon.in, you will find the full range of Indian Water Purifiers complete with their best discounted price and full specifications. This is great information, and you can decide on which model of water purifier to buy. With the model of water purifier you want to buy finalised, you can go to local shops to try and find the model of water purifier you have chosen and see if you can get at similar price of that at Amazon.in. In most cases the price from Amazon will be cheaper, because they buy in bulk from the manufacturers direct and they sell huge volumes because they are the world's largest and most trusted online retailer. If you buy from Amazon, they will arrange to have the water purifier installed in your house, usually free of charge.

Warranty and other facilities offered through Amazon are usually better than what you can get from local agents of water purifiers.

All pages in our website www.AchaWater.com

Below are links to all the pages on this website and we hope you will make full use of all the great information about Indian Water Purifiers provided here.