Hyderabad|India|September'2010: "Water is a consumer right. Water is essential for life. One in six of the world population has no access to clean water and 80% of the disease inflicted on the Indian consumer is due to lack accessibility to safe and potable drinking water. Even the Water purifiers purchased for water purification in our country are misleading the consumers and lack purity and safety as per global best practices.

A study by a leading consumer activist in the country Mr. Bejon Misra has come out with clear science based evidence that all the leading storage water purifier brands available in the country do not adhere to international standards of providing safe drinking water.

The domestic water purifiers market comprises of companies like Eureka Forbes, Hindustan Unilever, Ion Exchange India, Usha Shriram Brita, Tata Chemicals and many others who are aggressively marketing in an irresponsible manner the chemical based technology to purify water, which is a serious public health issue. There is also a huge unorganized market in India, which are misleading the consumers and have no regulatory mechanisms mandated to check the claims and the standards of the water consumed by ignorant and helpless consumers, who are denied of their basic right to safe drinking water.


Releasing the study which is now published in the form of a book, “Safety issues concerning storage water purifiers” in Hyderabad, at Crossword Book Store in City Central Mall in Banjara Hills,Mr. Bejon Misra said, “Though several tall claims are made by manufacturers on the purity and safety of water, we found that none of the leading brands of storage water purifiers has adopted international standards and they thus provide sub-standard drinking water to its consumers.''

Dr. Arjun L. Ksandare, Assistant Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad spoke about Bholakpur incident, Flourosis problem in Nalgonda. He said that many water purifiers are using unregistered chemicals in a dosage that is not prescribed.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Bejon Misra said that there at no standards in India. The standards that we are following are foreign. He asked the Government to prescribe standards and punish the offenders because it is very dangerous. He asked the government to set up a Referral laboratory to check usage of such harmful chemicals. Chemicals used for sanitation of swimming pools are being used for purifying drinking water, he lamented.

The First copy of the book “STUDY ON THE SAFETY ISSUES CONCERNING STORAGE WATER PURIFIERS” was given to Dr. Arjun L. Ksandare, Assistant Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. Another copy was presented to Mrs. Jyothi, resident of Kothapet, a homemaker.

The study is conducted by a New Delhi based non-government organization, Healthy You Foundation, Mr. Bejon Misra is its founder trustee. The study highlighted the fact that the labels on the products do not mention the certified chemicals used to treat the water and how the levels of their presence can be monitored by users, which is safe and healthy.

It noted that the literature distributed to the consumers at the time of sale does not carry the relevant information required for the consumers on health and safety related issues. “All the brands fall short of adequate disclosure requirements to enable consumers to make an informed choice and lack of stringent standards and regulations in the country to monitor public health and safety issues allows these companies to sell their products without checks,'' said Mr. Misra.

The study notes that the use of chemicals including chlorine in these purifiers should be carefully governed and regularly monitored to ensure that the dosage is administered under safe level. Also some other chemicals used in the cleaning process by these purifiers decompose themselves during the filtration and treatment of water and produce products which when combined with other routinely used material can be harmful to health.

Mr. Bejon Misra has authored many books in the past such as: “Complaint Redressal Mechanism in the Public and Private Health Care Delivery System in India”, “Accessibility and Affordability of Medicines in India” and many others.

The World Bank estimates 80% of communicable diseases in India are water related. Water borne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, and other gastro-intestinal disorders are a cause of prime concern and children, elderly and sick people are especially the most vulnerable population segments. There are several studies with valid scientific evidences which have established how in an irresponsible manner the manufacturers, service providers, food regulators and the policy makers are not concerned with the health and safety of the consumers in India by depriving them from access to safe portable water.

Both ground and surface water sources are polluted everywhere in the country. This is posing a serious risk for public health. With the growing awareness among the consumers for hazards of unsafe drinking water and multitude of diseases caused by water borne pathogens, demand for water purifiers providing safe portable water has been growing. In India, the weak water distribution infrastructure combined with questions on effective municipal water treatment plants have made point-of-use (POU) water purifiers a primary defense mechanism to remove various contaminants to make the water safe to drink. Thus the Indian consumer is pushed into boiling the water or buying one of the water purifiers as it becomes inevitable to use a POU water treatment device to provide safe and clean drinking water. Taking advantage of such a situation, some of the manufacturers are misleading the Indian consumers to over-sell POU water treatment devices by undermining the rights of the consumers on safety, information, choice and redress said Mr. Misra.

The 138 page book in English is for private circulation only. Those who desire to have a copy of the same can get it from the nearest Crossword bookstore or write to the publisher at D - 14, First Floor, Greater Kailash Enclave - II, New Delhi - 110048. The book has an interesting feature, which is the response recorded from the manufacturers on the published study and analysis by the author on each of the brands.

Mr. Bejon Misra is the voice of the consumer of the country, known crusader for consumer movement in India and who has to his credit enactment of various rights for consumers in India. He is a Consumer Expert & Founder Healthy You Foundation. He has been in Indian Consumer Movement for the past 27 years. He is currently the Chairman of the Cell For Consumer Education and Advocacy Society and Managing Director & Trustee of Consumer Online Foundation. He founded several consumer organisations in India and networked with more than 2000 consumer organisations around the world. Bejon has been working with Governments at National, regional and international level on consumer protection policies. An active member within Consumers International and worked as consultant with several UN organisations. He has visited more than 30 countries, as member of Indian delegation and also Consumers International on inter-governmental negotiations on Treaties and Standards. Intend to bring consumer related issues in developing countries as a thrust area in develoment and poverty eradication. His specialties include developing regulations and policies to empower the consumer and skills on comparative testing of products and services.