Do you feel fatigued even after a hearty meal? If so, check the water you drink! Illegal supply units have mushroomed across the city, taking consumers for a deadly ride by supplying improperly treated drinking water in well-packaged cans and bottles. Needless to say, our authorities haven’t the faintest idea how to keep track of these suppliers, leading to a stark rise in cases of water-borne illnesses like typhoid and gastroenteritis.
Unlicensed packaged drinking water units have always thrived in the city and now with the storage in all Cauvery dams falling, they could cash in on the water shortage even more come summer.
With neatly labelled cans, the unlicensed units con consumers with catchy phrases like '100 percent safe', 'UV treated' and 'RO purified safe water,' lulling them into a false sense of security when the water could actually be harmful to health.
Water expert, S Viswanath explains that a unit must have a Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) 10500 certification to supply drinking water to people as it is given based on 35 parameters including the unit’s water storage facility, its lab for testing the water, and its space for packaging and loading and unloading. The unit is also expected to get its water samples regularly checked at labs to ensure it is maintaining the desired quality, he explains.
But with the cost of setting up such a drinking water unit running into lakhs, many small players tend do short cuts and send unsafe drinking water into the markets.
The solution could be for the government to encourage the small players by providing them technical know-how and offering them loans to do the right thing, he believes.
Mr Selvanathan, director of Peacock Group, which runs a certified drinking water unit , Peacock Rock Agua, in Chamrajpet regrets that the government does not have a specific mechanism to tackle illegal drinking water units.
“So many illegal units have entered this sector as the business is huge in cities like Bengaluru. Most of the illegal units simply fill groundwater in the bottles and cans and sell it as treated and purified water. Sadly, people believe that all that comes in bottles and cans is healthy. But there are hardly a few units which really follow the BIS and ISI protocol. If consumers saw the conditions under which water is packed in these illegal units, they would be shocked," he adds.
Mr Selvanathan believes the number of illegal units could run into hundreds and he is afraid that come January when the water shortage could begin with the Cauvery reservoirs drying up, their numbers could rise even more.
"My advice to people is that before they drink the packaged water, they must see who the manufacturer is, verify his credentials, check the seal of the can and question the seller," he underlines.
Water from BWSSB more hygienic than packaged variety?
Magnesium and potassium are necessary supplements for the human body. While potassium maintains electrolyte balance, magnesium balances energy levels. Both are derived from the water we drink. But health experts say these necessary supplements are often absent in illegal packaged drinking water.
Dr Ravi Kumar V N, consultant, internal medicine, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur, cautions that not all packaged drinking water is safe. “We regularly see patients who come to us suffering from typhoid, diarrhea , lung infection or gastroenteritis caused mainly due to consumption of impure packaged drinking water. People,who seem tired and exhausted the whole day for no reason to check the water they drink. If necessary supplements like potassium and magnesium are absent in the water they drink, people tend to lose their muscle and nerve strength, leading to weakness.
And prolonged consumption of impure water can even lead to formation of kidney stones,” he warns, underscoring the need for a proper mechanism to check the illegal units in the city that are harming the health of people.
In his view a safer alternative would be for people to boil the drinking water supplied by the BWSSB for over a minute, filter it using a cotton sieve and then drink it.
Water expert and senior scientist with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Dr T V Ramachandra regrets that even the educated are taken in by the marketing strategies of packaged drinking water units. "The water supplied by the BWSSB is far better (expect in a few areas) than any packaged drinking water. The main issue with the illegal water units is that the water they supply is not purified and is drained of necessary minerals like calcium , magnesium and potassium. If this water lacking crucial minerals is consumed for long, people could end up losing bone strength and get brittle bone disease or arthritis,” he cautions, demanding that the government wake up and crack down on the illegal units for the sake of people’s health.
BBMP collecting info on illegal water units: Padmavathi, Mayor
What has the BBMP done to monitor illegal drinking water units operating in the city?
Our officials are collecting information about such illegal drinking water units.
Besides collecting information on these units, what do you plan to do?
The idea behind collecting this information is to pay surprise visits to such units and conduct raids on them. Stringent action will be taken against all illegal units operating without valid certification.
Some of the illegal units come up only during summer, make quick money and then disappear. How can such units be tackled?
The BBMP has set up RO water purifying units in all 198 wards for the benefit of the people. If they make use of the water supplied from these RO units, they will not have to depend on the illegal units. Also we charge only Rs 5 for a can of 20 litres. The notion that only private agencies can supply good quality water has to go and people should use our services too.
