‘Mission Bhagiratha water safer than RO plant water’

Awareness drive planned in fluoride-hit villages of Nalgonda district from this month

Nalgonda: There was a time when people were encouraged to set up Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants to filter water so that they would not fall prey to the dreaded fluorosis disease. But now people are being asked not to drink RO filtered water, but instead use water supplied through Mission Bhagiratha. The message that is sought to be sent across is that RO filtered water is devoid of all the minerals, which are necessary for the body.

“We encouraged use of RO filtered water in the fluoride-affected villages, as there was no other alternative to help people check fluorosis. But now we have covered all the fluoride-affected villages under Mission Bhagiratha. We have to now wean away people from using the RO filtered water by establishing that Mission Bhagiratha water is safer and much better than RO water,” says Suresh Kumar, SE of Mission Bhagiratha in Nalgonda district.

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The staff of Mission Bhagiratha department is planning to take up an awareness programme on this count at two villages in a week. The officials would explain and show that quality of Mission Bhagiratha Water is way better than the RO water by conducting the bulb test. Officials plan to enlist support of sarpanches and panchayat secretaries in the drive to be launched in December first week.

Suresh Kumar said all 657 gram panchayats and hamlets, where the fluoride level in the groundwater was more than the permissible limit of 1.5 ppm, have been covered 100 per cent under Mission Bhagiratha in Nalgonda district. Now, all these villages are getting treated surface water (river water) as drinking water through taps under Mission Bhagiratha. The quality of MB water is much better than RO water. Hence, there is a need to convince people to consume Mission Bhagiratha water.

District Water Quality Monitoring consultant P Veera Reddy said through the bulb test, they plan to explain in a simple way how Mission Bhagiratha water was safer than RO water for health. The test would help in proving that there was no presence of minerals in the RO water. But in case of MB water, the river water would be treated at the plants and only bacteria would be removed ensuring the presence of minerals, which were useful for health. In MB water, the fluoride would be less than 0.6 ppm, which was less than the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

He was of the view that RO water could be termed as “dead water” as there were no anions and cations in it. Consuming RO water would have a negative impact on the health of the people.

What is a bulb test?

A bulb test is a simple method to educate people on the quality of water. In a circuit of a bulb, a phase wire will be cut in the middle and the two wires will be placed in a glass of water without touching each other. If there are anions and captions i.e. minerals and other useful contents, the electricity will pass in the water and bulb will glow. During the test using, Mission Bhagiratha water samples, the bulb will glow.

But, when it comes to RO water, the bulb will not glow due to the absence of anions and cations. It will be considered dead water. Useful mineral content in drinking water is necessary for proper human body functions as per World Health Organization (WHO) report titled ‘Nutrients in Drinking Water’.

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