Question : Ban on RO Water Purifiers

(a) whether the Government has taken any steps to implement the recent order of National Green Tribunal (NGT) for banning Reverse Osmosis (RO) systems for water where level of dissolved solids is less than 500 mg/l across India;
(b) whether there is specific recovery rate for RO treated water in India and if so, the details thereof;
(c) the steps being taken by the Government to prevent large scale wastage of water due to rejection from RO system in India; and
(d) whether the Government has run/ is running any awareness programmes regarding health impacts of RO water and requirement of minerals in human body, if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI
(SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA)

(a)to (d)Drinking water supply is a State subject. For improving the coverage of safe drinkingwater to rural population, this Ministry supplements the efforts of the States byproviding them with technical and financial assistance through the centrally sponsoredscheme National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). It is the StateGovernments who plan, design, approve, execute, operate & maintain the schemes forproviding safe drinking water to rural population.The States may take up various treatment systems for water purification plants like Activated Carbon Filter, Reverse Osmosis, Ozonation, Ultra Violet (UV) system etc. depending upon the quality of water to be treated and the budget available for that purpose.

This Department has advisedall States/UTs during 2015-16 regarding the provisions of Bureau of India Standards (BIS) IS-16240:2015 that Reverse Osmosis (RO) Technology is in general applicable only when total dissolved solids contents in drinking water sources is very high and reject water control mechanisms shall be provided as part of the Integrated RO water system to regulate the flow of reject water.

States can utilize upto 5% of National Rural Drinking Water Programme funds for Support Activities which inter alia includes Information, Education and Communication (IEC) of Rural Drinking Water Supply as per NRDWP guidelines.

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