To ensure the supply of safe and clean drinking water for drinking, cooking and other domestic needs in the state’s Majha areas, Punjab Government is setting up a world class hi-tech multi district water testing laboratory at Amritsar under the technical expertise of ‘Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’, Mumbai.
This laboratory will be capable of testing arsenic, uranium and other heavy metals in drinking water, said the state Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Razia Sultana on Monday adding that it will be the major source of providing clean drinking water in the districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot and besides catering its services to other parts of Majha region.
She said that besides conducting the testing of arsenic, uranium and other heavy metals, it will also be capable of testing basic parameters and bacteriological parameters of drinking water. This advanced Lab is being established at Amritsar over an area of 8000 square feet with the expenditure of Rs six crore, she said.
Giving details about the ultra-modern equipment to be installed in hi-tech laboratory, the Minister said that equipment like Inductively Couple Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) and Ion Chromatograph will be used in this lab for testing of Arsenic, Heavy Metals, Anions, Cations at ppt (parts per trillion) level in addition to the basic water testing equipment for basic parameters like Total Dissolved Solids, pH, Turbidity and Bacteriological Parameters like E.Coli and Total Coliform.
“This lab will also help in monitoring the performance of the Arsenic removal plants being installed in these areas to provide safe drinking water,†she said.
She said that as many as four other multi district labs are also being set up with latest equipments in districts Sangrur, Moga, Hoshiarpur and SAS Nagar (Mohali) which will cater the demand of remaining districts.
The buildings for all these labs have been designed as per the latest norms and environmental safeguards. The cost of these labs works out to around Rs 4.50 crore.
