Borewells are widely used as water sources in agriculture, industries and in domestic use. All users who need to use water from bore wells require water testing to assure water quality.

With the municipal supplies, rainwater, and surface water availability becoming undependable, borewells are being increasingly seen as a dependable source of primary water supply.

Water from the borewells is purified by natural processes as it slowly seeps through the various layers of soil. It does, however, get contaminated with a variety of contaminants like heavy metals, pesticides, toxic chemicals, and even disease-causing bacteria and viruses.

Contaminants seep into the groundwater supply from contaminated surface water sources, drains, mining operations, farms, garbage dumps as well as from dumping of industrial toxic materials. Moreover, as borewells are being dug deeper and deeper there is an increased risk of contamination from heavy metals that are stored inside the earth.

Water from bore wells is used as a drinking water source and is used for other applications also. Therefore, bore well water as per the relevant quality standards is required before it is used. Below are some of the common applications and relevant standards for bore well –
• Borewell water is widely used as a source of potable/drinking water for which it needs to be tested for conformance to the IS standard IS 10500.
• If you desire to package drinking water then a bore well water test analysis report is a requirement that goes with the application for a license to the Bureau of Indian Standards. All fresh water is used to produce packaged drinking water through a water purification system needs to be tested as without complying with standards BIS license cannot be issued.
• The pharmaceutical industry also uses borewell water for which water is tested according to the country to which the pharmaceutical products are being exported. Each country has a different compliance requirement so besides being tested for compliance with Indian standards water testing also needs to be carried out according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) or US EPA requirements.
• Water which is used by the food industry needs to meet the requirements of IS 4251 in India and the relevant specifications of importing countries if the food is exported.
• Construction sites also use borewell water as the primary water source and the quality of water can have a huge impact on the strength of the construction. A higher level of chlorides can lead to corrosion of the reinforcement steel bars. Water used in construction should meet the requirement of IS 456.