Bottled water plants consume 7.03 mn cubic m of water

Over seven million cubic m of water is consumed by 1,952 licenced mineral and packaged drinking water plants in the country annually.

According to figures available with the Central Ground Water Board, while 1,940 licences have been issued in the country for packaged drinking water, only 12 of them have been issued for bottling of mineral water.

Andhra Pradesh -- with 471 licences to manufacture packaged drinking water -- leads the tally, according to the Bureau of Indian Standards.

Himachal Pradesh, famous for its natural springs, has eight licences for bottling mineral water. Incidentally, it has the least number of packaged drinking water licences -- seven -- in the country.

Tamil Nadu comes second with 447, followed by Gujarat with 179 licences. Gujarat also has one mineral water bottling licence.

According to data collected by the Central Ground Water Board from state governments, the quantum of ground water used by the plants is around 7.03 million cubic m per annum.

Water cess is levied and collected by state pollution control boards for prevention and control of water pollution.

Differential rates of cess are collected depending upon the use of water.