In a recent development, as reported by the Indian Daily, The Hindu, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Ministry of Environment to issue a notification by December 31, 2020 to ban use of all RO (Reverse Osmosis) Purifiers, wherein the TDS i.e. Total Dissolved Solids in the water is less than 500mg per litre of water

The problem with RO water purifiers is that during the purification process of water, around 70 to 80% of water is wasted. With increased popularity and indiscriminate use of RO systems, it was leading to a huge wastage of water.

Further, the de-mineralization of water is not required if the input water has TDS less than 500 mg/litre. But the common people were unaware of this fact and were installing RO water purifiers without testing TDS in input water at their home.

To fix this problem, NGT asked Centre in May 2019 to ban RO water purifiers in areas where piped water supply has TDS count lower than 500mg/litre. This was challenged in the Supreme Court of India by Water Quality Association of India, which represents companies that make RO systems. The Supreme Court however declined to intervene and asked Water Quality Association to approach the government.

The government has now issued a notification seeking all stake holder’s views on this issue.