BIS Chennai steps up monitoring of packaged drinking water units to ensure quality

BIS intensifies raids, surveillance of packaged drinking water units in Chennai; 24 raids conducted in last year; 1,691 inspections, 3,528 samples tested; 150% rise in market surveillance; 1.1 crore litres of packaged drinking water consumed daily; 725 licences provided; 12 applications/month; most units raided lacked valid licence or had quality issues.

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Chennai, has increased the number of ‘raids’ and its surveillance of packaged drinking water units in and around Chennai to ensure quality.

In the last year, 24 ‘raids’ were carried out in the city. Officials of the BIS said about 1,691 inspections of factories were carried out last year and nearly 3,528 samples of various products were tested. The market surveillance has also been intensified by 150% in the last year. Of this, there has been a rise in the number of raids and lifting of samples in packaged drinking water units by about 10%.

Though Metrowater has stabilised its piped water supply in many places of the city, packaged drinking water is still largely used by many commercial and domestic consumers in the city. The city consumes nearly 1.1 crore litres of packaged drinking water daily.

Officials noted that BIS had provided 725 licences for such private water packaging units to operate in and around the city. There had been no spurt in the number of applications for packaged drinking water production licences in the last two years. However, complaints about ISI mark violations have increased.

BIS has intensified its inspection operations to ensure adherence of various quality control standards in the past year. It is also based on complaints received through the BISCare app, which has provided a reliable grievance redressal mechanism to the people, officials said.

G. Bhavani, head, BIS, Chennai branch office, said on average, BIS received 12 applications for licences in a month. Of this, three pertained to packaged drinking water. The teams found that most of the units that were raided either functioned without a valid licence or had issues with the quality of the product.

BIS has provided 1,384 licences for various products. When the sample fails to adhere to quality standards, more samples are lifted from the same water unit at regular intervals to monitor the quality, Ms. Bhavani added.