Aqua pura
THIS is Cool Stuff. Pure drinking water may soon cease to be an idyllic dream. Water testing laboratories in every district within the purview of the 8th Plan are being set up by the rural development ministry to monitor and survey the quality of potable water in rural India. The Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Commission is considering issuing water quality testing kits to voluntary organisations involved in rural development work.
Rs 5, 100 crore have been earmarked for drinking waier facilities: 29 important parameters in water quality analysis will be lab te@ted. The exercise aims, by identification* and treatment at the source, to conserve water, recharge aquifiers, eradicate guineaworm, control fluorosis, remove excessive iron, and control brackishness.
"The quality of water supplied had suffered as the states seemed to be more concerned with the quantity of water being supplied," says S K Biswas, additional advisor to the project. The laboratories will have the daily capacity to carry out tests on 12 parameters for 20 samples, each lab with I trained chemist, and field staff to collect and preserve samples. India already has 156 district level laboratories, and 130 more have been approved by the Central and state governments. Three more mobile laboratories, to be set up in Jammu & Kashmir, are to be added to the existing 21.
The scheme will cost the Central government Rs 5 lakh per laboratory. Rs I lakh for equipment has already been sanctioned, and the Centre will pay for the cost of the building, and recurring expenses for 2 years. The portable kit Will cost about Rs 5,000.
"The strategies adopted are also being modified in accordance with the recommendations of the B B Sundaresan committee, which had indicated that non-governmental organisations, institutions and schools be involved in providing potable water to the people," said Ram Gopal of the Defence Labo- ratory, Jodhpur, who designed the kit. The committee also recommended set- ting up a separate agency to monitor water quality, and that water quality maps be made available to monitoring agencies.