New Delhi, Mar 17 (IANS): The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has made two Indian Standards pertaining to drinking water, namely, IS 10500:2012 on Drinking Water - Specification and IS 17482:2020 on Drinking Water Supply Management System - Requirements for Piped Drinking Water Supply, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

But there is a catch.

"BIS quality standards are not mandatory for civic agencies engaged in supplying drinking water to houses across the country. Water supply is a state subject, and it is the responsibility of the state government/Urban Local Bodies to plan, design, execute, operate, and maintain the water supply systems," Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Since August 2019, the Centre, in partnership with states is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) - Har Ghar Jal, to make provision of potable tap water supply in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis to every rural household by 2024.

Under JJM, as per existing guideline, IS 10500:2012 is to be adopted for ensuring safe drinking water supply and states/UTs have been advised to carry out testing of drinking water sources once in a year for chemical and physical parameters and twice in a year for bacteriological parameters, a release from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said.