Nagpur: 'RO and UV treated 100% pure and safe water' — this is how they try to reassure you. But the reality will leave you disgusted. The water sold by some manufacturing units in cans and coolers might be downright non-potable.
In dingy rooms and in basements, in shops and in houses — the city has hundreds, probably thousands, of water manufacturing units that are selling 'drinking' water in chilled cans and jars. The containers are unpackaged and unsealed, the units are unhygienic and unmonitored and the water not tested regularly. The units are operating without licences from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) or Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) which are mandatory for selling packaged drinking water.
TOI visited five-six such units and found shocking conditions in which water is stored and transported. More shockingly, there are no norms banning sale of unpackaged drinking water. BIS and FSSAI have stipulated guidelines only for manufacture and sale of packaged drinking water.
Whereas the BIS rules say that a water manufacturing unit must have sufficient space for a separate laboratory, raw water storage facility, packing area and loading and unloading points, most of these local units are running in a small room where water storage, Reverse Osmosis (RO) set-up, chilling and moreover washing dirty containers and refilling them are happening at the same time and same place.
Some unit owners say there are 1,000-1,500 units in the city, others say there are over 2,000. What is certain is all are without certification. The units work in a nexus so strong that as soon as TOI reached one of the shops on Wardha Road, the owner received a tip-off about our visit. The owner claimed that the water is treated with RO and also furnished one laboratory report of a water sample test she did some months back.
She sells an 18 litre can for Rs40 while the same quantity of packaged can costs Rs50-60. "Banks, hospitals, caterers, government offices and health clubs are my regular clientele. We try to ensure that we supply hygienic water, still we don't get a licence," she says even as a worker unloads dirty used cans from a mini-truck and starts washing them with water. No disinfectants are used or can be seen nearby. The caps of containers are soaked together in a bucket. Dry containers are piled nearby and look old and certainly not clean enough. Though this unit had a water harvesting system to collect rejected water, many others don't.
The units are functioning from places one can never imagine. Almost all stay hidden from direct sight giving the businesses a clandestine outlook. Though BIS norms clearly say that the units should not be in low-lying areas such as basements, a filthy one was found running in a dimly-lit basement of a building in Nandanvan where the rejected water was released unscientifically in a drainage line which was close to a well. According to officials of Central Ground Water Board, the discharged water can contaminate groundwater and nearby wells if it contains pollutants.
Hydrogeologist Vishal Doifode said that the rejected water contains many chemical elements. "If the RO membrane is in good condition, almost 50% of the water gets rejected after running through the high pressure pump. The reject water is highly concentrated with pollutants, sometimes even double than the original raw water," he added.
In the interiors of Manish Nagar, a unit was found operating hardly few meters away from a nullah. Like the other units, this one too is completely dependent on groundwater as a source. "Units should not be so close to sewer or drainage lines as the groundwater will be highly contaminated. Sometimes, RO is not used continuously to save expenses as a result of which contaminated water is supplied to consumers," confessed the owner of a Wardha Road-based unit.
Unpackaged water can be dangerous and play foul with public health. A party hosted by Abhishek Sinha, a resident of Parvati Nagar, is a perfect example. "We had ordered chilled cans from a nearby seller. After the party, my family and some guests suffered severe food poisoning," said Sinha.
When Sinha went to the unit to complain, the place turned out to be extremely unsanitary. "Our toilets were more clean," he described. Right from chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sinha since last two months has been writing to every authority, complaining about the unapproved units. But he is yet to receive a satisfactory reply from any one.
Various RTIs were filed in July this year but all in vain. While Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Joint Director of Industries and MSEB did not reply, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) replied that no unit manufacturing packaged drinking water without the necessary certification was found. It also stated that FDA can take action against only those units which are selling packaged drinking water without licence.
With no rules in place for manufacturing and sale of unpackaged drinking water, it is unclear if it should be termed as illegal. However, those running packaged drinking water units are absolutely certain that unpackaged water is non-potable. "We invest Rs75 lakh to Rs1 crore for setting up a small plant. The product we sell comes with an expiry date and undergoes various scientific treatments like pre-filtration, RO, UV, ozonization and carbonization," they said. They added that their units are regularly inspected by FDA officials along with periodic testing of water samples. "It is compulsory for us to have a full-time microbiologist and chemist," they said.
It takes Rs3-4 lakh for setting up a plant for unpackaged drinking water. "These units use water chiller which is very harmful. It has been scientifically proved that the gases which chill water are extremely dangerous for human health," said Daifode.
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