Drinking Water Bottle Ban

Muslim Murasu, June 2011

Water should be given to dry throat. This is Indian culture. Today a thirsty person hesitates to ask water from a fellow passenger. He feels shy. Self-respect does not allow asking for mercy. Consequently one suffers thirst.
One litre water bottle costs 16 rupees. Three lakh water pumps have been properly tested and installed by the central government and the details are readily available for the public at drinking water department web site (DDWS). Central government has meticulously documented water table situation in Tamilnadu. This bears witness to open, transparent functioning of the government. Borewells that dig deep, hand pumps that sucks from shallow depths, day and year when drinking water management scheme was started, water quality, treatment, sanitation protection, are categorized and listed based on panchayats, taluks, districts and states.
Drinking water distributed by government is of good quality. Yet bottled water is seeing scorching sales owing to marketing muscle of private companies. Seven crore Tamilans, at the rate of 5 litre per person, drink a total of 35 crore litres of water. But they do not spend 600 crore rupees for this per day. Farmers, laborers and middle class drink water supplied by government and live healthily. But still an imagination is created that bottled water is good. Those with money clout prefer bottle water.
More than 80 drinking water labs are operating in Tamilnadu. In addition, pollution control board, public welfare department, public healthcare department labs monitor drinking water management.
Ideally production cost and lab cost for bottle drinking water companies should be spectacularly high. 50 lakh rupees for building cost at district level, salary for scientist, electricity cost, lab instruments, vehicles, chemicals, one crore rupees will be needed per year for a district. Bottle firms are not happy to spend such a huge sum. The quality of bottle water and packet water should be scrutinized by government, private service organizations and consumer associations. Commercial fraudsters manufacturing bottles without quality should be sent to prison.
India has 2.4% of global land area. India accounts for 16% of world population. But the drinking water available is a meager 4%. Thirst of 120 crore people has to be quenched with the scarce water available. Drinking water should be used only for drinking. It should not be used for farming activities, industries, car cleaning, washing dresses and removing wastes. Recycling can be implemented to use waste water again and again. Countless colleges that have mushroomed in Tamilnadu can help in introducing simple methods to segregate salt. This will end lust for bottle water.