NEW DELHI: Facing flak from the Centre and key opposition players in the national capital over the quality of potable water, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Wednesday came out with its own assessment of the same. The agency, which comes under the Delhi government, claimed more than 90 per cent of potable water samples that it collected have been found to be safe for consumption.
“After a comprehensive quality test of 4,204 drinking water samples, collected from across the city, we can conclusively say that potable water in the city is safe to drink. The sealed samples were tested in our laboratories. They were assessed on as many as 29 parameters. Among the total samples collected, 4,128 proved to be ‘satisfactory’ and 76 ‘unsatisfactory’. The rate of ‘satisfactory’ samples, 98.19 per cent to be precise, is comfortable over the mandatory 96 per cent, as prescribed by WHO (World Health Organisation),” Dinesh Mohaniya, vice chairman, DJB, said.
Hitting out at the central government for casting aspersions on the quality of the city’s drinking water, Mohaniya said the report compiled by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) at the Centre’s behest was a “mischievous effort” to show the Delhi government in poor light ahead of the Assembly elections.
“BIS collected the samples in an unscientific manner and there was clear lack of transparency in the process. It made false claims on the sample collection and rushed into an erroneous assessment that Delhi’s water isn’t fit for drinking. Its report was nothing but a mischievous ploy to malign the Delhi government,” Mohaniya said.