India may have thousands of commercial plants making reverse osmosis (RO) systems, but only a few of them adhere to standards set by government agencies. IS 14543 of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), issued in 2016, asks commercial RO plants to ensure the water they sell is packaged and has all information on manufacturing, production, packaging date as well as expiry and various parameters on every packet, bottle or jar. About 6,328 units in the country are licensed under this standard.
 This article was originally published as part of Down To Earth’s special issue dated 16-31 March, 2024. Download the full story for free |
However, these standards do not apply to those plants that sell “open” or unpackaged water, and hence they evade adherence to regulation. Since 2023, authorities in Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region have taken action against 122 such commercial RO plants. Hariom Singh, nodal officer of Ghaziabad District Water Council, tells Down to Earth (DTE) that the authorities have taken action only when a complaint is registered, and no steps have been taken so far to count or survey such plants.
Further, in March 2023, BIS issued a new IS 16240 standard for domestic RO systems with capacity up to 50 litres per hour. Under the new standard, companies selling domestic RO systems have to maintain the purity of drinking water as per IS 10500 of 2012 (the Central Pollution Control Board is yet to frame guidelines for this standard). The 2015 IS 16240 had already mandated that companies selling ROs up to 25-litre capacity must obtain a licence. BIS’ response to a Right To Information application filed by DTE in January 2024 suggests only 38 domestic RO companies with capacity of 50 litres per hour in India have licenses for IS 16240 standard. This means thousands of companies in the market selling non-branded RO systems are not following these licensing procedures. Even among the 38 firms, several sell systems of higher capacity— 1,000 litres or more—despite a lack of proper regulation.
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