Panaji: The day after the report by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) entitled ‘Clean Drinking Water: Dream Pipe?’ Assessing Goa tap water was released to the media, Nio clarified that it was an academic study whose results never stated it was water insecure and not worth drinking.
The Institute also stated that this study only showed the existence of microplastics in tap water, and not in any way to assess the quality of drinking water, and that microplastics have been identified in tap water in other states as well.
“On behalf of NIO, I want to clarify that microplastics findings in tap water are an academic study, which only shows microplastics in tap water.
But the results have never stated that tap water is not safe and not feasible to drink,” said the project investigator, said Mahua Sahha.
Saha also said that based on this limited evidence, firm conclusions at risks related to consumption of microplastic particles through drinking water have not been determined.
There is no data to suggest health problems related to microplastic exposure through drinking water, even according to who reports, he said.
Testing was carried out as part of a research study (consultation project from a toxic link) with the existence of a microplastics in various media, and “the findings did not make an assessment of drinking water quality”, said Nio.
“At present there are no national and international standards of microplastics for drinking water throughout the world (who report) and only microplastics are not in any way makes water not suitable for drinking,” Sahha said.
There was a previous study that reported the existence of microplastics in Delhi’s tap water, said Nio, added that other scientific studies carried out on packaging water also showed a microplastics in packaged drinking water.
Water bottled water samples were collected from Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.
This report is also covered by national and international media.
“All reports are part of a larger scientific study and data on the existence of microplastics in various media.
This currently has no implications for standards or assessments on drinking water quality.
We have just reported a preliminary study based on samples once,” said Saha .
Nio said that in drinking water, understanding of the occurrence and fate of microplastics is needed throughout the water supply chain, pre-and post-treatment and in sub-optimal conditions to determine the proportion and type of microplastic particles originating from the freshwater environment, abstraction, care system , the distribution and bottling system and to further characterize the effectiveness of water treatment.
“The significance of micro exposure in drinking water also needs to consider relative exposure from other sources such as food and air.
It is difficult with information available to make strong quantitative estimates on the relative contribution of various sources.
Better understanding of events in this environmental compartment, including The quality of this study will be useful in articulating relative exposure through drinking water compared to other sources, “Nio said.