Want to buy a water purifier? You will be confronted with a fusillade of quality claims by companies. Avijit Chatterjee helps you make the right choice

Is the water you are drinking safe? Most people would think so, especially if you have installed a special purifier. But research conducted by consumer rights organisations claim safe water is just a myth propagated by water purifier companies.

“A lot of tall claims are made by water purifier companies,” says V. Suresh Babu, co-ordinator, river pollution, Centre for Science and Environment, a nongovernmental body based in New Delhi. “It is wrong to think that water purifiers can remove all contaminants. Research conducted by us indicate that even the most advanced form of purifiers cannot completely remove harmful pesticides such as lindane, malathion, solvents and other volatile organic compounds,” says Babu.

Most purifiers, except the ones that use ceramic candle filters, remove impurities only up to a certain level, he says. Experts recommend boiling water as a viable option. “For most middle-class people, buying an expensive water purifier is a difficult proposition. Boiling water is the safest and cheapest option. Though most of these new-fangled devices tend to remove contaminants, they also remove some essential minerals,” says Dr Ramananda Biswas of the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta.

For those who want to look beyond the simple method of boiling water, a host of options exist. So how does one make the right choice? In the first place, weigh company claims carefully, warns Roopa Vajpayee, honorary editor of Consumer Voice, an online consumer awareness magazine. “One should not be swayed by the marketing pitch of a water purification technology because chances are that a salesman will try to sell a technology which carries higher commission margins for him. Instead, you should be discerning enough to opt for a technology that is tailor-made for you. Also, it is important to spare a thought for the maintenance and replacement expenses.”

According to her, it is important to first define the safe water needs by finding out the water quality in an area where one lives. If the water is hard (salty in taste), it is better to opt for a reverse osmosis (RO) system. If the source of water is the municipal corporation, an ultraviolet (UV) candle filter will work just fine.

Most water purifiers today offer two or more treatment processes such as RO, UV, filtration and disinfection technologies. A recent market study conducted by Frost and Sullivan, the US-based consultancy firm, reveals that of the Rs 1,000-crore water purification market in India, 51 per cent purifiers in India are UV-based, while 42 per cent are based on RO. The rest are made of candle and resin filters. This contrasts with the global trend where RO-based systems have just 11 per cent of market share, making UV water filters the unanimous choice of people around the world.

S.K. Palekar, senior vice- president (marketing), Eureka Forbes, says their UV purifiers remove bacteria and viruses in three stages. Ceramic candles remove the physical impurities and the carbon filament is then used to remove toxic and organic chemicals. The last stage of the purification process involves using UV rays to kill bacteria and viruses.

“Our system works fine in an area where people get surface water, which is likely to have suspended solids and bacterial contamination. Such types of water generally have a total dissolved solid (TDS) between 750 and 1500, which our system can bring down to less than 200,” he says.

A K. Sengupta, national professional officer, World Health Organisation (WHO), India, says TDS of less than 500 is not harmful to human health. “However, there are places in Rajasthan where the TDS level is around 1,000 to 1,500. Here, too, we have seen people living a perfectly healthy life. So it is difficult to pinpoint any optimum level. It depends on the region a person lives in,” he says.

Sharada Prasad, customer marketing manager, water and air, Philips Consumer Lifestyle, says their intelligent UV system of water purifiers come with a pure protect lock that guarantees high quality of dispensed water. “If the filter is not replaced on time (within 3,000 litres of consumption), the purifier will be locked so that no more water can be dispensed,” she says. This water purifier also works on battery.