In June of this year MGP issued a press statement "Mysore's Drinking Water Quality Hits A New Low" in which results of tests conducted on water samples collected all over Mysore were presented. In these tests, thirteen out of the eighteen tap water samples (72%) were found bacterially contaminated (out of which 11% were extremely contaminated, 56% highly contaminated and 5% moderately contaminated). Tests were also conducted on municipal borewell water samples and it was found that total dissolved solids (TDS) content varied from 600 milligrams per liter to 1,500 milligrams per liter in the eighteen samples tested. According to drinking water specifications (IS 10500:1991) of the Bureau of Indian Standards, 500 milligrams per litre is the desirable level for TDS. Therefore, TDS of all the borewells tested exceeded this level. Excessive TDS is known to cause cancer and other diseases.
These results showed that by any standards, the quality of drinking water supplied to the public of Mysore is atrocious.
Mysore City Corporation which supplies water to Mysore was prompt in its rejoinder to this press release. In the rejoinder issued to the press, the Commissioner of MCC said that MGP and Dr. Ajay Memorial Drinking Water Foundations which carried out the tests were just recycling some old test results. He also accused these organizations of scaremongering. The rejoinder said that MCC conducts 13 different tests on water samples and only water which passes all these 13 tests is supplied to the public.
MGP and DAMDWF conducted their tests on 15-5-08 and 16-5-08 and a detailed report of the tests were submitted to the MCC Commissioner on 30-5-08. So the Commissioner knew that the results were not recycled old results.
To find out how MCC collects and tests water samples, MGP applied, under the Right to Information Act, for the results of all the water tests conducted by MCC in the month of May and received the requested document recently. The document shows that MCC actually conducts only 5 tests (residual chlorine, conductivity, pH, turbidity and MPN test for bacterial contamination) while MCC Commissioner's rejoinder claims that 13 tests are conducted!
A careful study of this document proves that sampling methods used by MCC are extremely unscientific, required tests are not being conducted, test results are highly dubious and there is no effort at all to use the test results to improve the water quality.
UNSCIENTIFIC SAMPLING
According to the document, MCC collected and tested 404 samples in 27 working days of May (13 samples a day on the average). Of these, 77 samples were from the water reservoirs. Vijayanagar,Yadavagiri and Vidyanagar reservoirs were tested very frequently, but Devanur reservoir was tested only three times.
Of the 327 tap samples tested, 89 samples (more than 25%) were from a small area around Metagalli (Karakushalanagara, Ambedkar Jnanaloka and BMShreenagar). Many large areas of Mysore such as Krishnamurthypuram, Jayalakshmipuram, Chamarajapuram, T.K.Layout, Lakshmipuram, Chamundipuram, etc had no samples tested. This seems an extremely skewed and unscientific way of taking samples.
According to the document, MCC tested a borewell in Kudure Mala and found it contaminated with bacteria. Then it tested three taps nearby supplied by the borewell and found those samples also contaminated. Common sense should have indicated that when the source itself is contaminated, there was no need to test the taps. This also highlights the unscientific nature of the sampling technique.
ESSENTIAL TESTS ARE NOT BEING CONDUCTED
Determination of total dissolved solids (TDS) is an essential part of drinking water tests, because excessive TDS causes cancer and other diseases. The drinking water specifications (IS 10500:1991) of the Bureau of Indian Standards sets 500 milligrams per litre is the desirable level for TDS. But MCC does not measure TDS in drinking water even though it is a very simple procedure which can be done even by high school students. Instead, it measures conductivity which is not included in the BIS specifications for drinking water.
DUBIOUS TEST RESULTS
According to the document, 14 borewells were tested and only 2 were found contaminated (14%). This number flies in the face of MCC's earlier data. A survey conducted by MCCn in 1999 had showed that 47% of the borewells were bacterially contaminated. As time goes by more and more borewells get contaminated and it is estimated that this percentage has now gone up to more than 70%. So MCC's latest results are highly suspect.
According to the document, two tests were conducted on 2-5-08 at the same address, No. 361 Ambedkar Jananlokanagara, Metagalli. One test found bacteria in the water and the other did not!. This is strange indeed.
The turbidity of all the 404 samples was much below the limit of 5 NTU set by BIS. The average turbidity measured by MCC is around 1 NTU. When people from all areas of Mysore were complaining about muddiness in tap water, these results are nothing short of astonishing..
According to the document, MCC found bacteria in only 9 samples out of 327 tap water samples (3%). This seems a gross underestimation.
TEST RESULTS ARE NOT IMPROVING WATER QUALITY
MCC seems to be making no effort to use these test results to improve the quality of water supplied. For example, there are 15 test results which show residual chlorine at 0.1 mg/l. According to BIS standards, residual chlorine should be at least 0.2 mg/l. Therefore, these 15 houses are getting underchlorinated water and face the danger of bacterial contamination. What MCC should have done is to increase the chlorine dose at the reservoir and again test these taps to see if residual chlorine is above 0.2 mg/l. But MCC has not done so.
CONCLUSION
Ill-qualified persons seem to be running the water supply department. Test results on drinking water are being skewed to present a rosy picture of water quality. This does not augur well for the public health in Mysore.
These results showed that by any standards, the quality of drinking water supplied to the public of Mysore is atrocious.
Mysore City Corporation which supplies water to Mysore was prompt in its rejoinder to this press release. In the rejoinder issued to the press, the Commissioner of MCC said that MGP and Dr. Ajay Memorial Drinking Water Foundations which carried out the tests were just recycling some old test results. He also accused these organizations of scaremongering. The rejoinder said that MCC conducts 13 different tests on water samples and only water which passes all these 13 tests is supplied to the public.
MGP and DAMDWF conducted their tests on 15-5-08 and 16-5-08 and a detailed report of the tests were submitted to the MCC Commissioner on 30-5-08. So the Commissioner knew that the results were not recycled old results.
To find out how MCC collects and tests water samples, MGP applied, under the Right to Information Act, for the results of all the water tests conducted by MCC in the month of May and received the requested document recently. The document shows that MCC actually conducts only 5 tests (residual chlorine, conductivity, pH, turbidity and MPN test for bacterial contamination) while MCC Commissioner's rejoinder claims that 13 tests are conducted!
A careful study of this document proves that sampling methods used by MCC are extremely unscientific, required tests are not being conducted, test results are highly dubious and there is no effort at all to use the test results to improve the water quality.
UNSCIENTIFIC SAMPLING
According to the document, MCC collected and tested 404 samples in 27 working days of May (13 samples a day on the average). Of these, 77 samples were from the water reservoirs. Vijayanagar,Yadavagiri and Vidyanagar reservoirs were tested very frequently, but Devanur reservoir was tested only three times.
Of the 327 tap samples tested, 89 samples (more than 25%) were from a small area around Metagalli (Karakushalanagara, Ambedkar Jnanaloka and BMShreenagar). Many large areas of Mysore such as Krishnamurthypuram, Jayalakshmipuram, Chamarajapuram, T.K.Layout, Lakshmipuram, Chamundipuram, etc had no samples tested. This seems an extremely skewed and unscientific way of taking samples.
According to the document, MCC tested a borewell in Kudure Mala and found it contaminated with bacteria. Then it tested three taps nearby supplied by the borewell and found those samples also contaminated. Common sense should have indicated that when the source itself is contaminated, there was no need to test the taps. This also highlights the unscientific nature of the sampling technique.
ESSENTIAL TESTS ARE NOT BEING CONDUCTED
Determination of total dissolved solids (TDS) is an essential part of drinking water tests, because excessive TDS causes cancer and other diseases. The drinking water specifications (IS 10500:1991) of the Bureau of Indian Standards sets 500 milligrams per litre is the desirable level for TDS. But MCC does not measure TDS in drinking water even though it is a very simple procedure which can be done even by high school students. Instead, it measures conductivity which is not included in the BIS specifications for drinking water.
DUBIOUS TEST RESULTS
According to the document, 14 borewells were tested and only 2 were found contaminated (14%). This number flies in the face of MCC's earlier data. A survey conducted by MCCn in 1999 had showed that 47% of the borewells were bacterially contaminated. As time goes by more and more borewells get contaminated and it is estimated that this percentage has now gone up to more than 70%. So MCC's latest results are highly suspect.
According to the document, two tests were conducted on 2-5-08 at the same address, No. 361 Ambedkar Jananlokanagara, Metagalli. One test found bacteria in the water and the other did not!. This is strange indeed.
The turbidity of all the 404 samples was much below the limit of 5 NTU set by BIS. The average turbidity measured by MCC is around 1 NTU. When people from all areas of Mysore were complaining about muddiness in tap water, these results are nothing short of astonishing..
According to the document, MCC found bacteria in only 9 samples out of 327 tap water samples (3%). This seems a gross underestimation.
TEST RESULTS ARE NOT IMPROVING WATER QUALITY
MCC seems to be making no effort to use these test results to improve the quality of water supplied. For example, there are 15 test results which show residual chlorine at 0.1 mg/l. According to BIS standards, residual chlorine should be at least 0.2 mg/l. Therefore, these 15 houses are getting underchlorinated water and face the danger of bacterial contamination. What MCC should have done is to increase the chlorine dose at the reservoir and again test these taps to see if residual chlorine is above 0.2 mg/l. But MCC has not done so.
CONCLUSION
Ill-qualified persons seem to be running the water supply department. Test results on drinking water are being skewed to present a rosy picture of water quality. This does not augur well for the public health in Mysore.