Quality, Standards and Testing

Water needed for human consumption, industrial purposes or other requirements must cater to certain minimum standards. The quality of any water is defined by its physical and chemical properties (characteristics). Physical properties include its appearance (colour, clarity and odour, perhaps also its taste) while the chemical properties refer to the constituents dissolved in it. Some of the physical properties are measurable and can be expressed in units of measurement while others like appearance, odour or taste are clearly subjective. However, all the chemical constituents can be measured accurately.

Drinking water must meet certain quality standards to safeguard the health of the people. The permissible and desirable limits of various parameters in drinking water have been detailed as per the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) standard specifications for potable water. These parameters are included in BIS-10500-1991. The various parameters covered include colour, odour, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness, alkalinity, elemental compounds such as iron, manganese, sulphate, nitrate, chloride, fluoride, arsenic, chromium, copper, cyanide, lead, mercury, zinc and coliform bacteria. The tolerance limits for inland surface waters for various classes of water use have been published by the Central Water Commission. Per ISI-IS: 2296-1982, the tolerance limits of parameters are specified as per classified use of water depending on various uses of water ranging from Class A to Class E.

What does the water that one drinks contain, what substances are dissolved in it and what are their safe limits? What are the issues that affect water quality? For more detailed information on all this, please read our FAQs on Rules, Regulations & Standards concerning water and Equipments used to measure water quality and quantity. 

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Featured Articles
January 30, 2024
Sustaining water quality in water supply initiatives
The workshop provided inputs into the newly formed committee for “Standard Operation Procedure for Quality Testing of Drinking Water Samples at Sources and Delivery Points”
Sector partners come together to supplement the efforts of the government on water quality and surveillance (Image: Barefoot Photographers of Tilonia)
October 4, 2023
बादलों में प्लास्टिक के कण
वैज्ञानिकों को पहली बार बादलों में सूक्ष्म प्लास्टिक (माइक्रोप्लास्टिक) की मौजूदगी के सबूत मिले हैं। शोधकर्ताओं का भी मानना है कि इसका जलवायु और समुद्री पारिस्थितिकी तंत्र पर गंभीर प्रभाव पड़ सकता है।
बादलों में प्लास्टिक के कण
July 8, 2022
Warming waters will lead to gasping rivers in India
Indian rivers are experiencing rising temperatures, which can lower the oxygen carrying capacity of their waters and spell doom for living organisms, small and large living in the waters.
The Karamana river in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala (Image Source: India Water Portal)
June 22, 2021
Toxic chemicals: A barrier to safe drinking water
Nonylphenol and its ethoxylates in drinking water: A health challenge
Water treatment facilities are incapable of removing many chemical compounds and need to be upgraded (Image: PxHere)
December 19, 2019
Only one out of five river basins in the country resilient to climate change: Study
News this week
Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
December 11, 2019
Locals reject social impact assessment report of Luhri II hydropower project
News this week
Sutlej river in Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh (Image source: Sanyam Bahga, Wikipedia)
World Water Week: Companies must look beyond own operations to enhance water stewardship
Updated Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard requires reporting on water impacts across the value chain.
Global Reporting Initiative
Posted on 30 Aug, 2018 10:37 AM

Access to freshwater is essential for all life and is a human right recognised by the United Nations. However, millions of people around the world face water scarcity, poor water quality, and inadequate sanitation.
Water, a precious commodity. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Simplifying defluoridation
A new device makes defluoridation simple and easy to execute in remote areas where fluorosis is found to be severe.
Martijn Nitzsche
Posted on 19 Aug, 2018 09:12 AM

Estimates suggest that about 10 million Indians are affected by fluorosis, a sickness associated with the consumption of increased concentrations of fluoride, mostly through water. Bones get weakened due to excessive accumulation of fluoride in them which results in increased hip and wrist fractures. Dental enamel gets eroded.
The Superfloc promises a sustainable and cost-effective solution to fluorosis. (Image: Martijn Nitzsche)
Floods wreak havoc in Kerala
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 15 Aug, 2018 10:03 AM

Kerala floods take 38 lives, severe loss reported
An aeriel view of the flooded locality of Aluva after heavy rains in Kerala. (Source: India TV)
Toxins on our plate
There is a need for better regulation and monitoring to bring toxin-free food to the Indian market.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 08 Aug, 2018 03:45 PM

“The recent scare due to the detection of formalin-laced fish across Goa, Kerala, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya points to a link between water quality and food safety. Fish traders find it cost-effective to use formalin, a carcinogen, instead of ice to prevent the decomposition of fish during transportation to distant markets.
The quality of food products and their safety are mostly decided at the primary production stage itself which is unregulated. (Image: Masahiro Ihara, Flickr Commons CC BY 2.0)
Yamuna river at its healthiest due to floodwater: Experts
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 07 Aug, 2018 06:58 PM

Yamuna river water quality improves, thanks to floodwater: Experts
Yamuna river in Delhi (Source: Sudhanshu Malhotra via IWP Flickr Photos)
Trash out: People get together to clean the Himalayas
The Himalayan Cleanup where people collected and sorted trash threw up useful information on the main culprits behind trash piles in the Himalayas.
Chicu Lokgariwar
Posted on 06 Aug, 2018 10:50 AM

My first trek in the Himalayas was a transcendental experience. Even a decade after, I remember the intense beauty of every vignette I came across. That’s why I was excited about the Himalayan Cleanup, held on May 26 this year.
Volunteers sort plastic trash during the cleanup. (Pic courtesy: Zero Waste Himalaya)
No water security without water quality
A study points out that pit latrines with onsite sanitation systems are a source of groundwater contamination.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 16 Jul, 2018 10:19 AM

Groundwater is a major source of water for a large number of Indians with 66 percent rural households and 27 percent urban households directly depending on it for drinking purposes, as per Census 2011.
Unsanitary conditions lead to groundwater contamination. (Image: SuSanA Secretariat, Attribution [CC BY 2.0])
Safe water to fight fluorosis
What Basubai and her children needed to fight fluorosis was access to safe drinking water.
Anita Sharma
Posted on 12 Jul, 2018 12:06 PM

Basubai is a mother of three young children—Ajay (9), Manju (11) and Sonu (13). She is married to Mukesh Singh in Jamniamota village in Bakaner block in Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh.
Village woman shows her fluorosis-affected teeth. (Pic courtesy: PSI)
Solar water purifier with a difference
With no electricity required and no wastewater, the new purifier works even under cloudy conditions and diffused solar radiation.
Dinesh C. Sharma
Posted on 10 Jul, 2018 01:53 PM

The availability of potable drinking water remains a challenge in rural areas in several parts of the country. Commercially available water filters are costly, need electricity to run and reverse osmosis (RO)-based purifiers waste a lot of water.
NARI solar water purifier (Pic courtesy: ISW)
When solving one health problem triggers another
Studies reveal that efforts at guinea worm eradication have triggered the spread of hydrofluorosis in Rajasthan.
Shanti Lal Choubisa
Posted on 27 Jun, 2018 02:17 PM

Up until two decades ago, the main sources of drinking water in Rajasthan included surface water from perennial ponds, reservoirs, lakes, dams, rivers and streams with borewells and tubewells used sparingly and only in remote areas. All this changed when guinea worm infections started appearing in the state. 
A child drinks water from a hand pump. (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
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