(a) whether the World Health Organization (WHO) has recently laid down
standards for supply of drinking water to rural/tribal villages in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Centrally sponsored National Rural Drinking Water Programme
(NRWDP) has fulfilled the standards laid down by WHO;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) if not, the reasons thereof ?
MINISTER IN THE MINISTRY OF DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION (SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH)
(a)to(e): The World Health Organization (WHO) has published `Guidelines for
Drinking Water Quality`. The Guidelines are addressed primarily to assist the water and
health regulators, policy makers and their advisors and to assist in the development of
national standards. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), taking assistance among
others, from the WHO Guidelines on Drinking Water Quality, has prescribed the
requirements for the essential and desirable characteristics required to be tested for
ascertaining the suitability of water for drinking purposes in its standard IS-10500. The
National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) guidelines indicates that water is
defined as safe, if the chemical and bacteriological parameters are within the standards as
prescribed in BIS Standard IS-10500.