NOIDA: Every winter, as toxic smog shrouds Delhi-NCR, air pollution dominates headlines and dinner-table conversations. Masks return, air purifiers hum and social media fills with outrage. But in Sector 7x, a cluster of 43 high-rise societies home to over one lakh residents, another crisis unfolds quietly, every day of the year. One that doesn’t cloud the horizon, but flows from the tap.Residents say the high level of total dissolved solids (TDS)-a measure of soluble hydrogen carbonate ions, chloride salts, sulphates, magnesium, etc-in the tap water supplied by Noida Authority leaves skin dry and dull, damages appliances, causes stomach ailments and forces them to spend thousands of rupees on water cans and filters.
Across multiple societies, water samples have shown TDS readings between 1,000 and 3,500 mg/L – and in at least one case, more than 6,500 mg/L. The safe and acceptable limit for drinking water, as set by the Bureau of Indian Standards, is 500 mg/L.“We talk about clean air every winter as if it’s the only environmental crisis,” Amit Gupta, a resident of Prateek Wisteria in Sector 77, said. “For us, water is the bigger emergency. It has been for nearly a decade.”A ‘mix’ no one asked forSector 7x was marketed as a premium residential area with gleaming towers, landscaped parks and wide roads. Developers promised 24×7 Ganga water that draws from the Upper Ganga Canal. Residents say what they got instead is a concoction of groundwater blended with 30% Ganga water.“The groundwater here is naturally high in minerals. Combined with inadequate treatment, the result is hard, salty, undrinkable water. RO filters clog and turn black within one or two months, requiring frequent replacements. I end up spending Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000 every year just to keep the RO systems functioning,” VK Gupta of Supertech Capetown in Sector 74 said. RO-filtered bottled water costs Rs 30-Rs 90 for a 20-litre can. For large families, that adds up to several thousand rupees a month.Fed up with the apathy, Civitech Stadia (Sector 79) residents last month commissioned a private laboratory, Amlo Laboratories Pvt Ltd in Sector 10, to test the water. The report, dated Oct 27, found TDS was 6,538 mg/L, a level experts classify as unfit for drinking without industrial-grade purification.A similar test of water samples at Prateek Wisteria by Evergreen Enviro Testing LLP, based out of Surajpur Site B, in Aug recorded the TDS level at 1,711 mg/L. Each test report, shared with the Noida Authority and reviewed by TOI, tells a version of the same story: excessively hard water, above permissible limits, unsuitable even for daily chores.Borewells to plug gapIn an open letter to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Gupta argued that officials were deflecting blame by suggesting societies were choosing to use borewells over piped water supplied by Noida Authority. “Why would anyone voluntarily use borewell water when it has such high TDS?” he wrote. “We don’t choose it. We are forced into it.”Gupta claimed the Authority is mandated to supply Ganga water for six hours a day. “Yet most societies receive three to four hours at best, which is inadequate to meet the needs of the families.”Low water pressure and supply shortage too leave several societies on the brink. At Antriksh Golf View 2 in Sector 78, residents say they have ordered 20-25 private tankers a day for nearly three months at a staggering expense. A single tanker of 20,000 litres costs between Rs 1,350 and Rs 2,000. “The dream of living in a high-rise comes with an asterisk here: buy your own water,” Ranjan Samantaray of Antriksh told TOI.Hidden toll on healthWhile the social media debates focus on particulate matter, doctors warn that prolonged consumption of high-TDS water can contribute to kidney strain, gastric irritation and mineral imbalance. Hard water can cause dry skin, dandruff and hair fall.Rajesh Yadav, a resident of Civitech Stadia, says complaints of stomach-related illnesses are routine. “We use RO water even for cooking. We don’t trust what comes from the tap,” he said. “People in Delhi-NCR worry about what they breathe. We also worry about what we drink.”Some have taken to posting photographs of brownish tap water on resident WhatsApp groups – water that stains clothes, scales geysers, corrodes bathroom fittings and clogs washing machines.“The symptoms of contaminated water show up at the dermatologist’s clinic or kitchens lined with empty water cans. Hair fall is so common in these parts of the city. So many families have had to install water softeners for bathroom showers and kitchen sinks. My neighbour just spent Rs 7,000 on a new geyser as the old one leaked due to hardness,” Bharat Bhushan of Sector 78 said.Scores of plaints, one replyBy residents’ count, dozens of complaints have been filed on the CM portal, Noida Authority helpline and social media. RWAs have held protest meetings. But nothing has changed. RP Singh, general manager of Noida Authority water department, disputed the residents’ claims. “The TDS in our supplied water is within standard limits (of 500mg/L). But we will look into the matter,” he said. Residents say they have heard this line before.
