Delhi: you'll get water quality check only once in 27 yrs

After reading about the deaths reportedly linked to drinking of contaminated water at NCERT colony in south Delhi, if the quality of water you drink is worrying you, your anxiety is not unfounded.

After reading about the deaths reportedly linked to drinking of contaminated water at NCERT colony in south Delhi, if the quality of water you drink is worrying you, your anxiety is not unfounded.

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Chances are your water supply would be quality checked only once in 27 years.

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) lifts on an average 400 samples across the city per day. However, considering the number of buildings and public places, the number is extremely small. Census 2011 puts the number of houses at 40,00,000. Even if we consider this statistic, excluding public places, the chance of a particular house figuring again in random sampling comes after 10,000 days — about 27 years.

“There are 1,500 planned colonies. Then there are several unauthorised colonies, which also consume water. The small sample indicates that DJB is unable to reach colony levels,” said Dunu Roy of NGO Hazard Centre.

Debashree Mukherjee, DJB CEO, says, “This (400) is not a small size. This is over and above samples tested at water treatment plants. For other areas, our tests are ample.”