About 86 per cent of all the diseases in the country are directly or indirectly related to the poor quality of drinking water, and 70 per cent of India's water is polluted, according to a report by a non-governmental organisation, the Consumer Unity and Trust Society.
Lakhs of people in West Bengal are suffering from arsenic contamination in ground water, and as many as 13 states are identified as endemic to fluorosis due to the abundance of fluoride-bearing minerals in water.
Certain places in Haryana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are found to have dangerously high levels of mercury, the report says.
'People change history. We change geography'
In Madhya Pradesh, a river is known as the 'Khooni Nadi'; its water is red in colour because of excessive iron content in it.
These and many more instances of water contamination, as brought out in the CUTS report, raise questions over the right of Indians to basic needs, safety and a healthy environment.
'This is a consumer abuse of the highest order. It violates their rights to basic needs, safety and a healthy environment,' the report says.
Lamenting the lack of legal provisions to safeguard the public interest, consumer activist Ramaben R Mavani of Rajkot says in the report: 'It is a pity that even after 56 years of Independence, India does not have legal standards that could help to clearly define 'clean' and 'potable' water.
'Standards should be stipulated and enforced strictly through the statutory Bureau of Indian Standards,' she says.
A recent World Water Development Report of the United Nations categorised India among countries with poor quality of water. India ranked 120 among 122 countries worldwide.
'Naturally occurring contaminants are also found in drinking water. The radioactive gas radon-222 occurs in certain types of rocks and can get into ground water,' the report says.
'Hazards from toxic industrial effluents are becoming evident over a longer period of time and might even be responsible for the spurt in cardio-vascular diseases, like coronary artery disease and hypertension. Their role in causing cancer has always been a cause of concern,' the report says.
Calling for the introduction of clear guidelines and norms to tackle the problem, noted consumer activist P Rama Rao of Visakha Consumers' Council, Visakhapatnam, says, 'The government should take stringent action against industries which are responsible for causing pollution.'
Stating that there are various scientifically derived parameters for measuring the purity of water, the report says: 'In most of the cases, it is the bacteria which causes water impurity. Usually the coliform group of bacteria is being used to evaluate the sanitary quality of drinking water'.
However, 'Of late, the Government of India seems to have realised this alarming situation,' it says, citing the initiatives to fix quality norms for potable water.
'There is an urgent need for partnership among the government, civil society and the private sector which will achieve the ultimate goal of 'clean and safe water for all' in India', the report says.
