In a statement issued by Samuga Pothunala Iyakkam (TNSPI) General Secretary A.S. Sankarapandian, he said:
Urban and rural local bodies in Tamil Nadu collect drinking water charges from the public and supply drinking water. The main water analysis laboratories functioning under the Public Health Department conduct drinking water quality tests three times a year. At present, these centres operate only in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli and Tirunelveli. Through these centres, drinking water quality testing is being carried out for 25 corporations, 148 municipalities, 490 town panchayats and 12,524 village panchayats across 38 districts. In addition, individuals and companies pay a fee of Rs. 4,000 to obtain drinking water quality certificates.
According to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, it is shocking that drinking water contaminated with human waste was supplied to railway passengers at railway stations including those in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Under the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization, it is fundamental and essential for water analysis laboratories functioning under the Public Health Department to assess drinking water quality. In the present situation, water bodies are becoming polluted due to urbanisation and the mixing of industrial and household wastewater, leaving users exposed to various health problems. Many people die every year due to water pollution. In such circumstances, it is the basic duty of local bodies to provide protected drinking water to the public. These analysis centres play an important role in ensuring the quality of this water.
When only four centres are determining the suitability of the drinking water used by 80 million people in Tamil Nadu, it is difficult to avoid the question of whether this work is being carried out properly. The four main water analysis laboratories together have only 124 posts, from lower-level to higher-level positions. Of these, 76 technical posts have remained vacant for a long time. In this situation, from 2025 to the present, 2,516 people have paid fees through private services and obtained drinking water quality certificates. A total of Rs. 1,30,76,333 has been collected from them for this purpose.
During the specified period, drinking water quality certificates have been issued for several thousand samples from local bodies, while several thousand certificates have also been issued to private applicants with limited staff and without the required analysts. This raises the question of how such work is possible, and the lack of confidence in these certificates leaves users of substandard drinking water exposed to various harms. Although a certificate assures that the particular water meets the required quality, unsuitable water continues to be supplied, leaving innocent people as victims of what amounts to merely symbolic certification by these centres.
The analysis centre started in Chennai in 1923 during British rule was later expanded to only three other locations. Carrying out this work without adequate analysis centres or sufficient staff amounts to facilitating errors. Recognising that safe access to drinking water, a basic need of the people, is not only their right but also a basic duty of the government, appropriate action must be taken to establish water analysis centres in every district, appoint sufficient staff and properly assess drinking water quality. At a time when water is being polluted in various ways and users are suffering in many forms, the Tamil Nadu government must urgently give attention to this issue.
Headquarters,
Samuga Pothunala Iyakkam.