According to World Health Organization, TDS level less than 300 mg/litre is considered as excellent, between 300 and 600 mg/liter is good, 600-900 is fair, 900 -- 1200 is poor and TDS level more than 1200 mg/liter is unacceptable.
https://www.kitchenarena.in/total-dissolved-solids/
Search for standard drinking water ratings by European union and World Health Organization.
Please follow the link below:
https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/tds.pdf
I agree with Arvind Singh who has stipulated the WHO set limits for TDS in drinking water
TDS is simply a qualitative test and is a measure of the total number of dissolved ions and gives us an indication of the general quality of the water. However, it does not provide us insight into specific water quality issues like elevated hardness, salty taste or corrosiveness.
However, a high level of TDS may cause the taste of water to be bad. This is as the concentration of dissolved ions may cause the water to taste bitter, acidic, salty, or brackish taste. For example, when the TDS contains a high amount of Cations combined with carbonates like CaCO3, it will cause the water to have a bitter taste and when Cations are combined with chlorides like NaCl, it will cause the water to have a salty taste.
To know about its health impacts, we should measur soecific anions ans cations. Such as Nitrate, phosphate and heavy metals.
https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2020/01/19/tds-in-water-what-is-tds-and-how-do-you-measure-tds-in-water/
TDS level on drinking water were ranged between 300 and 900 mg/l.
Please see the attached file. Source: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/60f4s0qn
(Chapter 2).
Best,
SM
The maximum allowable limit is 500mg/l according to EPA secondary drinking water standards.
The palatability of drinking water
has been rated by panels of tasters in relation to its TDS level as follows: excellent, less
than 300 mg/litre; good, between 300 and 600 mg/litre; fair, between 600 and 900 mg/litre;
poor, between 900 and 1200 mg/litre; and unacceptable, greater than 1200 mg/litre (1). Water
with extremely low concentrations of TDS may also be unacceptable because of its flat, insipid taste.
TDS minimum of 50 ppm and maximum of 200 ppm could be best for Indian conditions although the highest possible limit is 500 ppm. Above this hardness the water would be too hard for regular consumption.
Heelo Dear Dr Subhash Chavare
The total dissolved solids (TDS) are comprised of inorganic salts and a meager number of organic compounds that are dissolved in water. Concentrations of TDS in water vary considerably in different geological regions owing to differences in the solubility of minerals.
TDS were calculated using the formula:
TDS (mg/L)=Electrical Conductivity ( microS/Cm)*0.64
TDS is an important parameter in drinking water and other water quality standards. Freeze & Cherry (1979) classify water into fresh (TDS < 1,000 mg/L), brackish (> 1,000 mg/L), saline (> 10,000 mg/L) and brine (100,000 mg/L) categories on the basis of TDS concentrations.
Classification of groundwater quality for drinking water based on TDS (Davis and De Wiest 1966)
TDS (mg/L) < 500 Þ Desirable for drinking
500-1000: Permissible for drinking
1000-3000: useful for irrigation
> 3000: Unfit for drinking and irrigation
The permissible limit suggested by WHO for TDS is 500 mg/l
References
Freeze, R. A. & Cherry, J. A. 1979 Groundwater . Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA.
Davis SN, DeWiest RJM (1966) Hydrogeology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 463 P
WHO (2004) Guidelines for drinking water quality: training pack. WHO, Geneva, Switzerland
Best regards
Fatah BOUTELDJAOUI
The palatability of drinking- water has been rated by panels of tasters in relation to its TDS level as follows: excellent, less than 300 mg/litre; good, between 300 and 600 mg/litre; fair, between 600 and 900 mg/litre; poor, between 900 and 1200 mg/litre; and unacceptable, greater than 1200 mg/litre
www.who.int › dwq › chemicals › tds
T. H. Al-Noor 1500 ppm is quite high when it comes to humans (I would recommend much less. Please read my response). Best, S.
TDS minimum of 50 ppm and a maximum of 200 ppm could be best for Indian conditions Dhananjay Bhatkhande. I agree with this response, it has been found in some literature and my personal experience is also the same, but could you please suggest some reference for this recommendation.
@All I am little confuse about Allow TDS Level according to WHO and According to Indian Condition
Can you please help which TDS Level I need to follow
I have gone through the answers mentioned by various researchers. In my opinion TDS for drinking water raises a very good topic for scientific discussion. If we strictly follow IS specification of 500 ppm it may not be safe. This specification has been fixed by considering water containing dissolved salts which are useful for human body but not the other side such as presence of heavy metals viz. As, Pb, Fe, Ni, Mn etc., fluoride ions, chemical toxicity due to discharge of waste chemicals from industries to water source, contamination of waste medicines carelessly disposed to water souce, contamination of sewage in water source in urban areas etc. The presence of all these contaminations cannot be avoided when we are choosing water of TDS 500 ppm in order to supply adequate minerals to the human body. Hence in such case one should go for RO water after remineralisation for drinking purpose. The TDS of RO water generally available from various RO units falls between 20-50 ppm TDS. If we directly use such water for drinking, we will be loosing minerals from our body though we are consuming pure water free from all contaminations as mentioned above. In order to avoid this problem one should choose RO meter with remineralisation device. In such case water after purification, takes up adequate quantities of useful minerals from the mineral reservoir which basically contains salts of Na,K, Ca and Mg. In some cases RO with TDS controller device is available. After purification by adjusting TDS controller knob adequate TDS from 100 to 200 ppm can be maintained in water which is useful for human health. The third otion is in absence of above two devices one can take RO water by adding trace of rock salt to it in order to maintain TDS between 100 and 200 ppm which will be excellent for human use. In such case many useful minerals present in rock salt as trace levels along with above 98% NaCl will be mixed up in RO water and make it fit for human use.
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