Bye bye Jal Board, Hello Bisleri, Crystal8230;

NEW DELHI, JUNE 8: If you don't trust the water you drink, turn off the tap and reach for the telephone. Minutes after you place an order...

NEW DELHI, JUNE 8: If you don8217;t trust the water you drink, turn off the tap and reach for the telephone. Minutes after you place an order, a deliveryman will ring your doorbell with a 24 litre mineral water bottle in hand. Shell out Rs 45 and forget about your drinking water problems for the rest of the week or even more. You can either drink directly from the bottle or attach it to a tap- and-stand or a thermojug.

People living in Kalkaji, Nehru Place, Mayfair garden, Vasant Kunj and many other places in the Capital and its adjoining districts, including Noida, Gurgaon and Ghaziabad, are giving up on tap water. With firms eager to supply mineral water at the doorstep, more and more households are finding it convenient to rely on the service.

Says Sumedha Pandit, a Kalkaji resident: 8220;The Jal board supplies water to our locality between 4 and 6 p.m. Every evening, I would rush home from office to store water. I would fill up my filter, bottles, katoris and any other container I could lay my hands on. Then I would boil and filter the water to make it fit for drinking.8221; But, that, Sumedha claims, is history now.

Her family switched to mineral water two months ago. Now, they order two 24-litre mineral water bottles every week. 8220;Two bottles are enough for a family of four,8221; says she. 8220;The service is prompt and economical. If we bought one litre mineral water bottles from the market, it would cost about Rs 3,000 monthly. Bought in bulk, however, it costs not more than Rs 400 per month.8221;

Not all families, however, have switched over because of water crises in their localities. Pure water freak Vishal Narain, resident of Anandniketan, says: 8220;I never drink filtered water it may be free of micro-biological impurities to an extent, but what about dissolved impurities and the mineral balance?8221; This kind of health-speak is not uncommon in Delhi8217;s middle classes and its spreading. And mineral water firms are cashing in on the trend.

There are several mineral water firms , like Hello, Prime, Thermoking, Parley, Crystal and Bisleri, that provide water in bulk. The water goes through a three-stage purification process, getting rid of micro-biological and dissolved impurities which balances its mineral content before it is bottled.

Hello mineral Water Pvt Ltd was the first firm to launch 24-litre mineral water bottles in the Capital. Manika Bharadwaj, PRO, Hello Mineral water Ltd told Express Newsline: 8220;Corporate offices using mineral water for everyday drinking is not new. But, what is worth noting is that we have managed to make inroads into residential areas. Supplying mineral water to households is like eating cake 8212; you begin with the creamy layer and then go for the layer below and so on.8221;

Story continues below this ad

Today, they are targetting households with a monthly income above Rs 7,000. 8220;If you earn more than Rs 7000, you can easily afford to spend Rs 300-400 on drinking water every month,8221; argues Geeta Kohli, marketing executive, Thermoking Mineral Water Co. 8220;Moreover, we don8217;t just sell mineral water in localities like Vasant Kunj which face water shortage. We sell water to anyone who wants to keep away from water-borne diseases,8221; she adds.

But purchasing mineral water in bulk can be tricky. 8220;The service may not be prompt at times. One cannot switch to tap water once one is used to drinking mineral water,8221; argues Ashish Aggarwal, 32, a resident of Mayfair Garden. 8220;I buy one-litre bottles whenever the service is delayed,8221; he says.