Environmental Engg.

Lesson-9 Indian Standards of drinking water

This chapter deals with the  Indian standards for safe drinking water

Sl. No.	Substance or characteristic	Requirement  Desirable limit	Undesirable effect outside the desirable	Permissible limit in the absence of alternate Source	Remarks
Essential Characteristic
1.	Colour Hazen  Units, Max	5	Above 5, consumer acceptance decreases	25	Extended to 25 only if toxic  Substance are not suspect in absence of alternate sources
2.	Odour	Unobjectionable	-	-	a)  test cold and when heated b)  test are several dilutions
3.	Taste	Agreeable	-	-	Test to be conducted only after safely has been established
4.	Turbidity (NTU) Max	5	Above 5, consumer acceptance decreases	10	-
5.	pH value	6.5 to 8.5	Beyond this range the water will after the mucous membrane and/or water supply system	No relaxation	-
6.	Total Hardness (mg/L) CaCO3	300	Encrustation in water supply structure and adverse effects on domestic use	600	-
7.	Iron (mg/L, Fe) Max	0.3	Beyond this limit taste/appearance are affected; has adverse effects on domestic uses and water supply structure and promotes iron bacteria	1.0	-
8.	Chlorides 250 (mg/L, Cl) Max	250	Beyond effects outside the desirable limit	1000	-
9.	Residual free Chlorine (mg/L), Max	0.2	-	-	To be applicable only when water is chlorinated. Tested at customer end. When protection against viral infection is required, it should be min. 0.5 mg/L.
Desirable Characteristics
10.	Dissolved solids mg/L. Max	500	Beyond this, palatability decreases and may cause gastrointestinal irritation.	2000	-
11.	Calcium (mg/L, Ca) Max.	75	Encrustation in water supply structure and adverse effects on domestic use.	200	-
12.	Magnesium (mg/L, Mg) Max	30	Encrustation in water supply structure and adverse effects on domestic use.	100	-
13.	Copper (mg/L, Cu) Max	0.05	Astringent taste dis coloration and corrosion of pipes fittings and utensils will be caused beyond this.	1.5	-
14.	Manganese (mg/L, Mn) Max	0.1	Beyond this limit taste/appearance are affected, has advers effect on domestic  use and water supply structure	0.3	-
15.	Sulphate  (mg/L, SO4) Max.	200	Beyond this causes gastro intestinal irritation when magnesium or sodium are present	400	May be extended upto 400 provided magnesium (as Mg) does not exceed 30
16.	Nitrate (mg/L, NO3) Max.	45	Beyond this methaemo globinemia takes place.	100	-
17.	Fluoride (mg/L, F) Max.	1.0	Fluoride may be kept as low as possible. High fluoride may cause fluorosis.	1.5	-
18.	Phenolic Compounds (mg/L C6H5OH) Max.	0.001	Beyond this, it may cause objectionable taste and odour	0.002	-
19.	Mercury (mg/L Hg) Max	0.001	Beyond this the water becomes toxic	No Relaxation.	To be tested when pollution is suspected
20	Cadmium  (mg/L, Cd) Max	0.01	Beyond this the water becomes toxic	No Relaxation.	To be tested when pollution is suspected
21.	Selenium (mg/L, Se) Max	0.01	Beyond this the water becomes toxic.	No Relaxation.	To be tested when pollution is suspected
22.	Arsenic (mg/L, As) Max.	0.05	Beyond this the water becomes toxic	No Relaxation	To be tested when pollution is suspected
23.	Cyanide	0.05	Beyond this the water becomes toxic	No Relaxation	To be tested when pollution is suspected
24.	Lead (mg/L Pb) Max.	0.05	Beyond this the water becomes toxic	No Relaxation	To be tested when pollution is suspected
25.	Zinc (mg/L, Zn) Max.	5	Beyond this limit it can cause astringent taste and an opalescence in water	15	To be tested when pollution is suspected
26.	Anionic detergents (mg/L, MBAS) Max	0.2	Beyond this limit it can cause a light froth in water	1.0	To be tested when pollution is suspected
27.	Chromium  (mg/L, Cr6+)	0.05	May be carcinogenic above this limit	-	-
28.	Polynuclear  Aromatic Hydrocarbons (mg/l, PAH) Max	-	May be carcinogenic	-	-
29.	Mineral oil  (mg/L)	0.01	Beyond this limit, undesirable taste and odour after chlorination takes place	0.03	To be tested when pollution is suspected
30.	Pesticides (mg/L) max	Absent	Toxic	0.001	-
Radioactive materials
31.	Alpha emitters Bq/L Max	-	-	0.1	-
32.	Beta emitters  Pci/L Max	-	-	1.0	-
33.	Alkalinity (mg/L,) Max	200	Beyond this limit, taste becomes unpleasant	600	-
34.	Aluminum (mg/L, Al) Max	0.03	Cumulative effect is reported to cause dementia	0.2
35.	Boron (mg/L) Max	1.0	-	5.0	-