Proposed plant plans to use water from the Yamuna river, which also provides water to five hydel power projects in Uttarakhand.

Mumbai: Even as politicians are busy criticizing Ajit Pawar’s jeering comment on drought, water stocks in all the dams in Marathwada touched the lowest level ever on Tuesday.

Going by the information released by the water resources department on Tuesday, stock in all the dams in the entire Marathwada region stood at 8% of the total count, compared to 18% the same day last year and 42% the year before that.

The National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench, on Thursday directed the Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and the Deputy Director General of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS),

Residents to get 20-litre cans at Rs. 12; novel project to boost local body’s income

Amidst the growing popularity of packaged drinking water, Mudichur panchayat near Tambaram has ventured into a novel project of supplying purified water in 20-litre cans at a subsidised price to its residents. The panchayat will soon begin distributing water that has been purified in a reverse osmosis plant and packaged in 20-litre cans. The cans will be supplied at Rs. 12 against the retail price of a maximum of Rs. 30.

The government has filed 33 cases against water bottling plants in the first four months of current fiscal year 2012-13.

Are the mineral water cans you are buying for drinking purpose really safe? Is the packaged water meeting the standard guidelines of Food Safety Act?

The answers are coming in negative as at least 25 Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants in Madurai district are yet to obtain the mandatory licence from Government food safety wing. These drinking water plants are, however, continuing to supply water cans to homes. Officials are going to step up raids against violators and they have appealed to the public to remember that the water need not be safe just because it is supplied in a can.

Noida: Adopting a stern outlook on wastage of groundwater by packaged water companies, the National Green Tribunal has sought details of all such factories operating in the Noida-Greater Noida region. Aclarification has been sought asto whether such industries have the consent of the authorities of the twin cities and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board to operate. The tribunal has also sought details about the ‘sources’ from which these factories collect water.

The tribunal has directed the Central Ground Water Authority and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board to furnish guidelines regarding conservation of groundwater and provide data pertaining to groundwater levels from 2006.

A plea to the district authorities to check over exploitation of ground water by a bottling plant at Suriyur in Tiruverumbur union on the outskirts was made at the district panchayat council meeting on Thursday.

Raising the issue at the council meeting, chaired by T.Rajathi, chairperson, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member Chithravel alleged that though the unit was said to be only a bottling plant, it was tapping ground water heavily using six borewells for manufacture of soft drinks.

Water, water everywhere -- just not in plastic bottles, says a town in the US state of Massachusetts.

A law passed by the town of Concord went into effect with the New Year, making single-serving bottles of water illegal. The ban is intended to encourage use of tap water and curb the worldwide problem of plastic pollution. It only applies to "non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water." Coke or other soft drinks are exempt.

Faced with the startling data that only 224 out of the estimated 788 packaged drinking water manufacturing units in the State operate with ISI certification, the High Court on Friday directed companies without that seal of quality to apply for licences before the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) within 15 days.

The court also directed the BIS to finish the formalities of application processing and follow-up procedures within four months and after that, take action against those agencies and companies that sell water without ISI certification.