The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi Jal Board to upgrade laboratories

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Monday, Jul 07, 2008
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New Delhi

Delhi Jal Board to upgrade laboratories

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

To negate any scope for water contamination

Complaints over dirty water from many areas
DJB is exploring the possibility of hiring a consultant

NEW DELHI: With complaints of dirty water trickling in from across the city, the Delhi Jal Board is all set to upgrade its existing laboratories to rule out any scope for error in determining impurities and contaminants in the water it supplies.

The DJB conducts tests on hundreds of water samples on an everyday basis at its various laboratories. Even though the Board claims that water supplied in the city is fit for consumption, occurrences of dirty and smelly water being supplied for drinking purposes have impelled the Board to take stock of its laboratories and the equipment used therein.

“The Board has a well organised quality control wing headed by a senior official, which has 21 functional laboratories at six water treatment plants, 11 sewer treatment plants, and at the entry points of raw water. Water samples are tested at these laboratories by chemists and bacteriologists and they monitor the quality of raw water, prescribe the treatment for it and then analyse the treated water before it is discharged for distribution to consumers,” said a senior official of the DJB.

He said, the Board is working on the up-gradation of its laboratories to ensure that the city not only gets potable water free from impurities, but the sewage too is disposed of using the best practices.

“We are keen to study, adopt and implement the best practices being followed by acquiring sophisticated instruments, gadgets, automatic testing system and overall modernisation of the laboratories to derive best out of the existing manpower,” the official said.

The Board is also exploring the possibility of hiring a consultant to assist in these areas.

The official explained that tests are also run at sewer treatment plants by these laboratories to ascertain the quality of the sewage before it is allowed to flow into the Yamuna through various drains.

“These laboratories also collect random samples on a daily basis from consumers located in different parts of the city to analyse whether there is any contamination anywhere in between the treatment plant and the delivery point to the consumers,” the official pointed out.

Referring to the role that the consultant will play, the official said: “The consultant should have expertise and exposure of functioning of water treatment plants and sewer treatment plants in developed countries with modern and sophisticated technology and also the know-how of running and managing the quality control set up of water and sewers.”

The consultant will be mandated to establishment of research and development for water treatment and quality control measures.

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