The Reverse Osmosis (RO), and Membrane-based Water Purification Systems (MWPS) are a necessity for not only households but at every place, one can imagine in India as they provide people with clean and safe drinking water, however, the government is now looking to ban these RO systems.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has recently drafted a notification wherein it seeks to bank MWPS, especially the RO systems in India.
However, the ministry is seeking comments from the stakeholders before it issues such a huge order and bans the water purification systems in India.
MoEFCC said that the water purification systems will be banned in places where the water that is supplied meets the norms of Beaurau of Indian Standards. On Monday, the notification said, “Installation or use of MWPS shall be prohibited, at the Point of Use or at the Point of Entry for purification of supplied water which is subjected to conventional flocculation, filtration and disinfection process or is from any sources which are in compliance with acceptable limit for drinking water prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standard”.
This notification follows the order given by the National Green Tribunal or also called as NGT. The order was passed in May and it said that the use of RO systems will be barred in areas where the content of total dissolved solids is below 500 MG per Liter in the water supplied by the water department.
The reason why NGT is banning the use of RO systems is because it not only wastes water during the purifying process but it also removes the essential salts present in the water.
In the draft, it was specified that if any violation is seen, it should be brought in front of the State Pollution Control Board and the Central Pollution Control Board. Additionally, the Central Pollution Control Board will be the nodal agency which will be tasked with the implementation of the rules and regulations.
