Believe it or not, nearly 70 percent of diseases in Hyderabad are water-borne, according to a survey conducted by Eureka Forbes and GFK Water Audit 2013. The city seems to be reeling under water contamination. To understand its impact and key issues with drinking water in Hyderabad and other parts of the country, Eureka Forbes and GFK conducted a nationwide survey titled “Kya Aapka Paani Beemar Hai.” In all, 325 households were interviewed in Hyderabad as part of the survey. The findings revealed some hard-hitting facts. Ground water samples collected and examined by the Eureka Forbes Institute of Environment, a non-profit organisation, revealed that levels of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Hardness, Chlorides, Nitrates, etc responsible for water contamination have exceeded permissible limits in certain parts of Hyderabad such as Madhapur, Asif Nagar, Secunderabad, Abids and Pragathi Nagar among other places. Toxic chemicals such as arsenic and lead and disease-causing bacteria are also contributing to the alarming increase in water contamination. Five out of every 10 respondents surveyed had someone in family and friends falling sick in the last one year due to water contamination. Incidence of water-borne diseases like cholera, jaundice, typhoid, diarrhoea, common cold, cough and fever is higher amongst the people when compared to malaria, dengue and other diseases. About 48 percent respondents attributed diseases in their families to contaminated water. Almost 50 percent respondents said their drinking water is unfit for consumption. About 31 percent respondents were found using water purifiers, followed by 23 percent using packaged drinking water and 20 percent boiled drinking water for daily consumption. Surprisingly, even today about 27 percent of Hyderabad households drink water directly from taps. Most of the respondents surveyed were concerned about the quality of drinking water and increasing incidence of water-borne diseases in their families. Water hardness,bad taste,colour and odour were some of the major issues highlighted by the respondents during the survey. The audit also studied the sources of drinking water in households surveyed which was largely dominated by municipal water (42 percent) which is relatively safer, followed by tankers (34 percent) and borewells (25 percent). EF-GFK Water Audit, Thuppil Venkatesh,Professor Emeritus Department of Bio-Chemistry and Bio-Physics at St John’s Medical College, Hyderabad who also is an Advisor to Quality Council of India (QCI) stated that there has been a growing concern about the increasing water contamination levels and its impact. What HMWS&SB says: When contacted, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) officials told Express water quality in the twin cities is monitored by the internal quality wing of HMWS&SB and external monitoring is done by the Institute of Health Systems and third party check is also done by Institute of Preventive Medicine. They check overall 2,000 samples per day throughout the GHMC area. On the issue of chlorides and nitrates in the water, the reports of IPM and EPTRI show that chlorides and nitrates are in the permissive limits of IS 10500 drinking water standards and also the TDS is in the permissive standards showing better taste in the water. Arsenic and Lead is not observed either in the surface waters or in ground water of Hyderabad city from any of the NABL accredited organisations tested till date. As per the information from Director of Medical&Health department and also from Fever Hospital, cases of water-borne diseases were investigated by IPM and QAT Wing of HMWS&SB and, were found to be unrelated to the water supplied by HMWS&SB.