Prevention of Water Pollution
JGU is committed to the overall well-being of every member of the community, including students, faculty and staff. Water samples from the Student Housing Blocks and the Food Court are tested routinely by an accredited laboratory, so that the quality of the water we drink is checked regularly and not just once.
Each test covers a broad set of physical and general parameters, assessed against the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Specifications for Drinking Water (IS 10500:2012). These include pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, chloride, sulphate, iron, fluoride and residual chlorine. The tests follow the internationally recognised APHA methods.
The results are reassuring. Parameters such as pH, turbidity, hardness, calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, chloride, sulphate and iron sit comfortably within the desirable limits set by the standard. Fluoride is not detected, and total dissolved solids remain well within the permissible limit. This reflects the multi-stage purification our borewell water goes through, with multi-grade and activated carbon filtration followed by reverse osmosis.
Through these routine checks, JGU makes sure that the drinking water on campus is safe and meets the quality standards for drinking.
Keeping Polluted Water Out of the Water Supply:
Testing tells us the water is safe. Preventing contamination in the first place is what keeps it that way. JGU treats its fresh water and its wastewater as two separate systems, and much of the work on campus goes into making sure the two never meet.
Separate networks for fresh and used water:
All wastewater generated on campus, from hostel washrooms, kitchens, residences, labs and academic blocks, is collected through a dedicated sewer network and carried directly to the university’s seven Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). This network runs independently of the lines that carry fresh water to buildings, drinking water points and kitchens, so used water has no route back into the potable supply.
Treated water stays non-potable:
Water treated at the STPs is used only for non-potable purposes such as horticulture, irrigation, sprinkling, floor washing, dust suppression, toilet flushing and cooling towers. It is supplied through its own distribution lines and is never mixed with drinking water.
No discharge beyond the campus:
No treated or untreated wastewater is discharged outside the university. Because every litre is treated and reused within the premises, the campus does not release effluent into surrounding drains, groundwater or nearby water bodies, which protects the wider water supply as well as our own.
Protecting the source:
Our drinking water comes from borewells. Raw water is passed through multi-grade filtration, activated carbon filtration and reverse osmosis before it reaches the dispensers, so any impurities picked up at source are removed before consumption. Storage tanks are kept covered and are cleaned at regular intervals to prevent contamination during storage.
Checking at the point of use:
Water samples from buildings across the campus, including the Student Housing Blocks and the Food Court, are tested regularly at an accredited laboratory against IS 10500:2012. Testing at the point of use, rather than only at the source, means that any contamination entering through storage or distribution would show up in the results and could be traced and corrected quickly.
Together, these measures keep the water people drink on campus separate from the water they use, and keep JGU’s wastewater from becoming someone else’s pollution.
