The document discusses India's efforts to provide safe drinking water to its population. It notes that in 1975, over 1 billion people globally lacked access to safe water. In response, India developed various five-year plans from 1980-1997 to expand access, with the goal of supplying safe water to all rural villages. Key aspects of ensuring water safety discussed include water quality standards, testing for contaminants, monitoring programs, and strategies like water treatment and sanitation inspections. The document also examines health impacts of contaminated water and international targets for access to improved water sources.

1. RAVI ROHILLA
COMMUNITY MEDICINE
PGIMS Rohtak

2. CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
WORLD AND INDIA SCENARIO
FRAMEWORK FOR SAFE DRINKING WATER
GUIDELINE VALUES
PROGRAMMES FOR SAFE WATER

3. INTRODUCTION
• A report prepared by the World Health Organization in
cooperation with the World Bank showed that in 1975, some
1230 million people were without safe water supplies. These
appalling facts were central to the United Nations decision to
declare an International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation
decade, beginning in 1981.
• Further, the VI Five-Year Plan of India(1980-85) had made a
special provision for availability of safe Drinking water for the
masses. Therefore, the standard was prepared with the
objective of assessing the quality of water resources, and to
check the effectiveness of water treatment and supply by the
concerned authorities.

4. INTRODUCTION
• During VII Five-Year Plan(1985-1989), 55 mini mission districts
were identified with a view to meet supply of water to all the
problem villages.
• The VIII Five-Year Plan(1992-1997) intended to provide safe
drinking water to the rural masses. It also proposed to ensure
supply of desired quality and required quantity of drinking
water.
• Routine surveillance of drinking water supplies must be
carried out by the relevant authorities to understand the risk
of specific pathogens and to define proper control
procedures. Precautions/care should be taken to prevent
contamination of drinking water from chlorine resistant
parasites such as cryptosporidium species and giardia.

5. SAFE AND WHOLESOME WATER
• Free from pathogenic agents.
• Free from harmful chemical substances.
• Pleasant to the taste i.e. free from colour and odour
•Usable for domestic purposes.

6. WATER REQUIREMENT
•RURAL AREAS:
necessary minimum standard – 40 Lpcd
source should be within-- 1.6 Km
•URBAN AREAS:
piped supply without sewerage – 70 Lpcd
piped supply with sewerage – 135Lpcd
metropolitan – 150 Lpcd

8. Millennium development goals :
GOAL 7 : Ensure environment stability.
TARGET 7.C : Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
INDICATOR 7.8 : Proportion of population with sustainable
access to an improved water source, urban and rural.

9. • Global progress towards the MDG target: trend in use of improved
drinking-water
• sources 1990-2008, projected to 2015

12. COUNTRY DATA-DLHS
DLHS-3
(2007-08)
DLHS-2
(2002-04)
TOTAL RURAL URBAN TOTAL RURAL URBAN
Improved
Source of
Drinking Water
(%)
96.0 94.7 99.5 61.8 52.8 84.0

14. ESTIMATED BURDEN OF DIARRHOEA IN DALY’s
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
DALYs (000s) by diarhoeal disease in WHO Regions, estimates for 2004

15. Diarrhoeal diseases in India: Estimated DALYs lost
DALY: Disability-Adjusted Life-Year
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHOLERA AND ENTERIC DISEASES, KOLKATA

16. • The health burden of poor water quality is enormous.
It is estimated that around 37.7 million Indians are
affected by waterborne diseases annually, 1.8 million
children are estimated to die of diarrhoea alone and
73 million working days are lost due to waterborne
disease each year. The resulting economic burden is
estimated at $600 million a year.
• While ‘traditional diseases’ such as diarrhoea
continue to take a heavy toll, 66 million Indians are at
risk due to excess fluoride and 10 million due to
excess arsenic in groundwater.

17. Framework for Safe Drinking-Water:
Requirements
•Health-based targets
• System assessment
•Operational monitoring
•Management plan and monitoring plans - describing
actions to be taken in normal operation and incident
conditions
•A system of independent surveillance

18. Health based targets
•Mark out milestones to guide and chart progress
towards a predetermined health and/or water safety
goal.
• Provides opportunity to take action to correct
deficiencies.
• Identifies data needs and discrepancies.

19. Types of health-based targets
Health outcome targets :
•Measures reduction in detected disease incidence or
prevalence.
•Microbial or chemical hazards with high measurable
disease burden largely water associated. For eg.
Flouride.

20. Water quality targets (WQTs):
• Established for individual drinking-water constituents
that represent a health risk from long-term exposure
and where fluctuations in concentration are small or
occur over long periods.
• Expressed as guideline values (concentrations) of the
substances or chemicals of concern.

21. Performance targets:
• Employed for constituents where short-term
exposure represents a public health risk or where
large fluctuations in numbers or concentration can
occur over short periods with significant health
implications.
•Most frequently applied to the control of microbial
hazards in piped supplies varying from small to large.

22. Specified technology targets:
•National regulatory agencies establish targets for
specific actions for smaller municipal, community and
household drinking-water supplies.
• Identify specific permissible devices or processes for
given situations and/or for generic drinking-water
system types.

23. Water safety plans
A WSP comprises of the three essential actions that
are the responsibility of the drinking-water supplier in
order to ensure that drinking-water is safe.
■ a system assessment.
■ effective operational monitoring; and
■ management.
guided by health-based targets and overseen
through drinking-water supply surveillance.

24. Water safety plans
The primary objectives of a WSP in ensuring good
drinking-water supply practice are :
 Minimization of contamination of source waters.
 Reduction or removal of contamination through
treatment processes.
 Prevention of contamination during storage,
distribution and handling of drinking-water.

25. System assessment and design
•Multidisciplinary team of experts with a thorough
understanding of the drinking water system.
• For eg. engineers, catchment & water managers,
water quality specialists, environmental or public
health or hygienist professionals, operational staff
and representatives of consumers.

26. • Provides an overview description of the drinking-water
system, including characterization of the
source, identification of potential pollution sources in
the catchment, measures for resource and source
protection, treatment processes, storage and
distribution infrastructure.

27. Operational monitoring
The objectives of operational monitoring are for the
drinking-water supplier to monitor each control
measure in a timely manner to enable effective
system management and to ensure that health-based
targets are achieved.

28. Parameters used in operational monitoring
• For source waters-
Turbidity
UV absorbency
Algal growth
Flow and retention time
Colour, conductivity and local meteorological events

29. • For treatment-
Disinfectant concentration and contact time
UV intensity
pH
Light absorbency
Membrane integrity
Turbidity and Colour

30. • In piped distribution systems--
Chlorine residual monitoring -- A sudden
disappearance of an otherwise stable residual
can indicate ingress of contamination.
Faecal indicator bacteria
Pressure measurement and turbidity are also
useful in operational monitoring.

31. Management procedures
• Effective management implies definition of actions to
be taken in response to variations that occur during
normal operational conditions; of actions to be taken
in specific incident situations where a loss of control
of the system may occur; and of procedures to be
followed in unforeseen and emergency situations.
•Management procedures should be documented
alongside system assessment, monitoring plans,
supporting program and communication required to
ensure safe operation of the system.

32. Water quality control
• To ensure that water services meet agreed
national standards & institutional targets.
• Provides valuable information:
 Quality of source of water.
 Efficiency of treatment and water quality variables.
 Natural and seasonal variations.
 Identifies need for taking remedial action.

33. Water quality Surveillance
“The continuous and vigilant public health assessment
and review of the safety and acceptability of
drinking-water supplies”
(WHO, 1976).
•Done by independent agency (state public health
department).
• Investigates the activity and identifies the corrective
or preventive measures and gives feedback to water
supplying agency.

34. • This surveillance contributes to the protection of
public health by promoting improvement of the
quality, quantity, accessibility, coverage,
affordability and continuity of water supplies
(known as service indicators).
• Complementary to the quality control function.

35. Effective surveillance includes:
•Regular testing of residual chlorine at consumer
level.
•Regular collection of water samples and testing of
water samples for E. coli or thermotolerant bacteria
and coliform count.
•Regular interaction with supplying agency.
•Monitor water borne diseases for early warning.

36. •Monitor outbreaks of water borne diseases.
• Sanitary inspection.
• Education of safe water to people.
• Training of community members and PRI for home
and well chlorination.
• Intersectoral coordination.

37. Sanitary inspection
•On-site inspection and evaluation by qualified
individuals of all conditions, devices, and practices in
the water supply system that pose an actual danger
to the health and well being of the consumers.

38. Water sampling and analysis
Minimum level of analysis should include:
 Testing for indicators for faecal pollution.
 Turbidity
 Chlorine (residual)
 pH

39. Location of sampling points
Representative of the different sources from which
water is obtained by the public or enters the system.
 Representative of the conditions at the most
unfavourable sources

40. Sampling frequency in piped water system
POPULATION No. OF MONTHLY
SERVED SAMPLES
<5000 1
5000-100,000 1/5000 population
>100,000- 1/10,000 population
500,000 +10 additional samples
>500,000 1/10,000 population
+50 additional samples

41. Sampling methods for physicochemical
analysis
• Collected in clean glass stoppered bottles–
WINCHESTER QUART BOTTLES.
•Rinse three times with water before filling.
• Stored at low temperature(40C)

42. Samples for bacteriological examination
Clean sterilized bottle, 200-250 ml.
Add sodium thiosulphate, if sample contains
chlorine.
Should not be opened before filling.
Collect sample.
Examine or keep in ice until analyzed.
Iced sample should be analysed within 48 hrs after
collection.

43. Water quality – criteria and standards
I. Acceptability aspects
II. Microbiological aspects
III. Chemical aspects
IV. Radiological aspects

44. ACCEPTABILTY ASPECTS
PHYSICAL PARAMETERS AND INORGANIC
CONSTITUENTS

45. Inorganic
constituent
Permissible
level
Reasons Treatment
Turbidity 5 NTU Appearance Filtration
Colour 15 TCU Appearance Filtration,
Distillation,
Reverse
osmosis,
Ozonisation

46. Inorganic
constituent
Permissible
level
Reasons Treatment
Taste and
odour
------ Should be
acceptable
Activated
carbon, air
stripping,
oxidation,
filtration
Temperature ------- Should be
acceptable
-------

47. Inorganic
constituent
Permissible
level
Reasons Treatment
Aluminium 0.2mg/l Deposition,
discoloration
Neurological
disorders,
Alzheimer’
disease
Ammonia 1.5 mg/l Odour &
taste
Algal growth

48. Inorganic
constituent
Permissible
level
Reasons Treatment
Chloride 250mg/l Taste &
corrosion
-----------
Hardness ---------- Scale
deposition,
scum
formation,
corrosion
Removed
by ion
exchange,
RO

49. Inorganic
constituent
Permissible
level
Reasons Treatment
Hydrogen
sulfide
0.05 mg/l Odour
and taste
Activated
carbon, air
stripping,
oxidation,
filtration
Iron 0.3 mg/l Staining Oxidizing
filter

50. Inorganic
constituent
Permissible
level
Reasons Treatment
Manganese 0.1
mg/l
staining Ion
exchange,
chlorination,
oxidizing
filter,
Dissolved
oxygen
-------- Indirect
effects
-----------

51. Inorganic
constituent
Permissible
level
Reasons Treatment
pH 6.5 – 8.5 Low –
corrosion
High-taste,
soapy feel
Increase
pH- by
soda ash
Decrease
pH – by
citric acid
Sodium 200 mg/l Taste -------

52. Inorganic
constituent
Permissible
level
Reasons Treatment
Sulphate 250 mg/l Taste,
corrosion
RO,
distillation,
ion
exchange
Total
dissolved
solids
1000 mg/l Taste RO,
distillation,
ion
exchange
Zinc 3 mg/l Taste same

53. Microbiological aspects
a) Bacteriological indicators :
(1) Coliform organisms
(2) Faecal streptococci
(3) Cl. Perfringes
b) Virological aspects
c) Biological aspects

54. Bacteriological quality of drinking water
Organisms Guideline value
All water intended for drinking
E. coli or thermotolerant --- must not be detectable
coliform bacteria in any 100 ml of sample

55. Treated water entering the distribution system:
Treated water entering the distribution system:
E. coli or thermo- Must not be detectable
tolerant coliform in any 100 ml sample
bacteria
E.Coli or thermotolerant
coliform bacteria
Must not be detectable in
any 100 ml sample
Total coliform Must not be detectable
bacteria in any 100 ml sample
Total coliform bacteria Must not be detectable in
any 100 ml sample

56. Treated water in distribution system:
Treated water in distribution system:
E.coli or thermotolerant
bacteria
Must not be detectable in
any 100 ml sample
E.coli or thermo- Must not be detectable
tolerant bacteria in any 100 ml sample
Total coliform bacteria
Must not be detectable in
100 ml sample. In case of
large supplies, where
sufficient samples are
examined, must not be
present in 95% of any
samples taken throughout 12
months period.

57. Tests employed are:
1. Presumptive coliform test:
Multiple tube method
Membrane Filtration Technique
2. Tests for detection of faecal streptococci and Cl.
Perfringes.
3. Colony count

58. VIROLOGICAL ASPECTS : Free from any viruses.
Disinfection with 0.5 mg/l of free residual chlorine for
30 min contact period at a pH 8.0 is sufficient to
inactivate viruses.
Ozone also has strong virucidal effect.

59. CHEMICAL ASPECTS
INORGANIC CHEMICALS:
Constituents Recommended max
limit
(mg/l)
Antimony 0.005
Arsenic 0.01
Barium 0.7

60. Boron 0.3
Cadmium (batteries,
fertilizers)
0.003
Chromium 0.05
Copper 2
Cyanide(industrial
0.07
contamination)
Fluoride (geographical
area)
1.5
Lead (household
plumbing system)
0.01

61. Manganese 0.5
Mercury 0.001
Molybdenum 0.07
Nickel 0.02
Nitrate 50
Nitrite 3
Selenium 0.01

62. ORGANIC CONSTITUENTS
Constituents Max limit (μg/L)
Carbon tetrachloride 2
Dichloromethane 20
Vinyl chloride 55
1.1-dichloroethane 30
1.2-dichloroethane 50

63. Aromatic hydrocarbon
Benzene 10
Toluene 700
Xylenes 500
Ethyl benzene 300
Styrene 20
Benzolalpyrene 0.7

64. PESTICIDES MAX LIMIT(μg/L)
Aldrin 0.03
Chlordane 0.2
DDT 2
2,4-D 30
Heptachlor 0.03
Hexachlorbenzene 1
Lindane 2
Methoxychlor 20
Pentachlorophenol 9

65. RADIOLOGICAL ASPECTS
Should be as low as possible
Proposed guideline value:
Gross alpha activity – 0.1Bq/L
Gross beta activity – 1.0Bq/L

66. PROGRAMMES FOR SAFE WATER
•National drinking water mission : introduced
in 1986, renamed as Rajiv Gandhi National
drinking water mission in 1991.
•Accelerated urban water supply program :
initiated in 1993-94.
•National rural drinking water quality
monitoring and surveillance program :
launched in 2006.

67. •Bharat Nirman : rural drinking water is one of
the six components .
•National urban renewal mission : to provide
infrastructure facilities including water
supply.

68. REFERENCES
1. Guidelines for drinking water quality WHO Geneva
2010;4th ed.
2. Millennium Development Goals India country report
2011.
3. Text Book of Social and Preventive Medicine by K.
Park.
4. Health Policies and Programmes in India by Dr. D. K.
Taneja
5. http://fluoridealert.org/health/bone/fluorosis/india.ht
ml
6. http://www.ddws.nic.in/popups/submissionfunds-
200607-195.pdf