WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water

This fourth edition incorporating the first addendum, of the World Health
Organization's Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality builds on over 50 years of guidance by
WHO on drinking-water quality, which has formed an authoritative basis for the setting of national
regulations and standards for water safety in support of public health.
It is the product of significant revisions to clarify and elaborate on ways of implementing its
recommendations of contextual hazard identification and risk management, through the
establishment of health-based targets, catchment-to-consumer water safety plans and independent
surveillance. It reflects the renewed focus on primary prevention.
Significant additional guidance on good practice is presented, incorporating changes introduced
by the first and second addenda to the third edition. Emerging water management issues are
comprehensively addressed for a range of circumstances, from household water treatment and
safe storage and the bulk supply of water over long distances to the potential implications of
climate change.
Additional risk assessments are presented for a number of new chemical and microbial hazards
and applied to a suite of pesticides used for public health purposes. Existing reviews on chemicals
and waterborne pathogens have been revised to account for new scientific information. The
chapter on radiological aspects of drinking-water quality has been comprehensively updated.
Even more than the previous edition, this new edition incorporating the first addendum,
emphasizes achievable practices and the formulation of sound regulations, applicable to low-
income, middle-income and industrialized countries alike, that aim to prevent a potential health
crisis caused by the consumption of unsafe drinking-water, against the backdrop of rapid
urbanization, water scarcity and climate change.

BIS Guidelines for drinking Water

This is a presentation which gives details of the permissible and desirable limits of various
parameters in drinking water as per the BIS standard specifications for potable water.
Arghyam has compiled a brief presentation which gives details of the permissible and desirable
limits of various parameters in drinking water as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) standard
specifications for potable water (BIS-10500-1991). The BIS drinking water specification (IS
10500:1991) was drawn up in 1983 and its most recent revision dates back to July 2010
(Amendment No. 3).
The standard was adopted by the Bureau of Indian Standards with the following objectives -

 To assess the quality of water resources, and

 To check the effectiveness of water treatment and supply by the concerned authorities.

They apply to drinking water supplied by different Authorities/ Agencies/ Departments of State
Governments and Central Government, wherever applicable in the country. They also apply to
water supplied by Non Government or Private Agencies for human consumption in any place of
the country.
The various parameters covered include color, odour, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness,
alkalinity, elemental compounds such as iron, manganese, sulphate, nitrate, chloride, fluoride,
arsenic, chromium, copper, cyanide, lead, mercury, zinc and coliform bacteria.
The standard categorises various characteristics as essential or desirable. It mentions the
desirable limit and indicates its background so that the implementing authorities may exercise
their discretion, keeping in view the health of the people, adequacy of treatment etc. All essential
characteristics should be examined in routine. Besides, all desirable characteristics should be
examined either when a doubt arises or the potability of water from a new source is to be
established.
The standard has categorically made relaxation in the specification when no alternate resources
are available and therefore, to enable the Water Supply Agencies to exercise their discretion a
maximum permissible limit has also been given to certain parameters.
In formulation of the standard for drinking water BIS has taken into consideration the following
publications:

 International Standards for Drinking Water issued by World Health Organization, 1984.
 Manual of Standards of Quality for Drinking Water Supplies. Indian Council of Medical
Research 1971.
 Manual on Water Supply and Treatment (third revision) CPHEEO, Ministry of Urban
Development, 1989.

The Central Water Commission has recently come up with a document to present the tolerance
limits for inland surface waters for the various classes of water use. As per ISI-IS: 2296-1982, the
tolerance limits of parameters are specified as per classified use of water depending on various
uses of water. The following classifications have been adopted in India –

 Class A: Drinking water source without conventional treatment but after disinfection
 Class B: Outdoor bathing
 Class C: Drinking water source with conventional treatment followed by disinfection.
 Class D: Fish culture and wild life propagation
 Class E: Irrigation, industrial cooling or controlled waste disposal.

Impurity of Drinking Water

In the United States, dirty or unsafe water consists of elements called Total Suspended Solids (TSS)
that are not designed to dissolve. These solids include dust, sand, clay and rust. They remain
suspended in water and cause it to become muddy or cloudy. They also lack the two essentials of
pure water: hydrogen and oxygen.

Hydrogen and oxygen enable drinking water to become pure and basically dissolve most anything
it comes into contact with. If consumed, suspended impurities in water if consumed can result in a
range of medical ailments and illnesses. These include, but are not limited to:

 Cholera
 Guinea worm disease
 Typhoid
 Legionella
 Dysentery
 Malaria – most commonly associated with mosquitoes and germs in contaminated water

Waterborne diseases stemming from drinking contaminated water result in a staggering 3.4
million deaths each year. The problem is so significant that the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) even has a special department that deals with contaminated water in the United
States. They also network with the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide pure water and
treatment solutions for developing nations.

Conservation of Water
Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage
the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future
human demand. Population, household size and growth and affluence all affect how much water
is used. Factors such as climate change have increased pressures on natural water
resources especially in manufacturing and agricultural irrigation.[1] Many countries have
already implemented policies aimed at water conservation, with much success.[2]
The goals of conservation efforts include:

 Ensuring availability of water for future generations where the withdrawal of freshwater from
an ecosystem does not exceed its natural replacement rate.
 Energy conservation as water pumping, delivery and wastewater treatment facilities consume
a significant amount of energy. In some regions of the world over 15% of total electricity
consumption is devoted to water management.
 Habitat conservation where minimizing human water use helps to preserve freshwater
habitats for local wildlife and migrating waterfowl, but also water quality.