The National Green Tribunal on Tuesday asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to issue a Government notification banning RO based water purifiers by the end of this year. A bench headed by the NGT Chairperson found that the RO based purifiers, in regions which had total dissolved solids (TDS) lesser than 500 milligrams per litre, deprived the consumers of water based minerals and nutrients. The NGT bench granted MoEF more time to implement the Order as MoEF informed the tribunal that it couldn’t complete the exercise due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier the tribunal had granted a year’s time MoEF to implement its order, but on failing to do so in time, MoEF sought extension of 4 months in January, 2020. NGT in its order also had stated the delay in implementation will cause harm to the public health and environment. The NGT condemns this delay by the MoEF and warned the concerned officer that if the order is not complied with then the officer shall lose his/her salary. The matter is set to be heard on 25th January, 2021 next.
The Order banning RO based water purifiers was based on a report of an expert committee which included representatives from MoEF. According to the report, TDS level below 300 mg per litre is considered as excellent water and higher the TDS worse is the water quality eg 1200 mg per litre is considered as poor quality water. But if RO based purifiers are used in regions which have TDS level lesser than 500 mg per litre then the purified water has very little or no minerals and it has ill effects on the health of humans who consume it and the environment. Further NGT asked the Government to recover 60% of water from places where RO based purifiers were sold and permitted. RO stands for reverse osmosis, it is process to treat water where it removes containments from the water by using pressure to force molecules through a semipermeable membrane. The Petition was filed a NGO which sought conservation of water by preventing wastage due to unnecessary usage of RO based water purifiers.
