New Delhi, Oct. 12 -- Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Monday said that access to water must go beyond household tap connections, stressing that a dry pipe cannot fulfil the promise of water access and contaminated water poses a threat to life and health.

Addressing the National Human Rights Commission's Foundation Day celebrations and a one-day conference on 'Water - The Elixir of Life', the CJI said that access to safe and reliable water was essential to ensuring human dignity and fulfilling constitutional rights.

"A mere tap is not the same as access to water. A pipe that runs dry cannot fulfil the promise that the pipe represents. And water contaminated with arsenic, fluoride or other harmful substances is not a service; i...