New Delhi, Feb 28 The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on Friday told the Supreme Court on Friday that the drinking water sample drawn from 12 Janpath, home of Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, failed on the ISO parameters (specifications for drinking water) in odour, aluminium and coliform content.
The BIS report claimed all the 11 samples collected from different locations in the city failed ISO standards in more than one requirement. "The samples were drawn from different locations from piped water being supplied by city municipalities/ corporations/water board at consumers' end and sent for testing to the designated labs," said the report.
The water samples were sent for testing as per ISO standard specification for drinking water at the National Accreditation Board Laboratory (NABL).
A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and comprising Justice Deepak Gupta queried advocate Vipin Nair, representing the BIS, what methodology should be adopted to improve the quality of potable water.
"Pipes are damaged. What steps are required (to address this)... sewage seeps into the water pipeline. What if the pipes have gone old... your (Centre) supply centre officer may be corrupt," said the court.
The observation from the top court came while hearing environmental matters.
The apex court also observed that there could be an instance where the executive responsible for supervising the cleaning process of water may not be adding the right chemicals to make water potable. "There may be several sources of contamination... seepage of sewage cannot be ruled out. Moreover, the water mafia is also an issue"," it observed.
The court also made some strong remarks on the water mafia, where they stop the water supply and then sell water through private tankers. Justice Gupta cited the example of a leak in a water pipe, which existed for nearly 10 years, and the water mafia made profits from this leak.
The top court asked for a comprehensive report on water samples from the Delhi government and Central Pollution Control Board within 15 days. The top court also asked the authorities concerned to point out if they want the existing pipelines to be replaced.
"We want to know, what kind of treatment should be given (to water)," it said.
( With inputs from IANS )