PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
Following the recent approval of the proposal for setting up water quality mobile labs by the State administration, the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan (UJS) will soon press into service two such labs. These mobile labs will cover the Char Dham Yatra routes for water quality testing and will be pressed into service during next year’s Ardh Kumbh in Haridwar.
Informing about this, UJS Secretary (appraisal) Maneesh Semwal said the proposal for water quality mobile labs was sent to the State administration a few months ago. The authorities have recently approved the initiative. The initiative includes two new mobile vans that will travel to specific locations to conduct water quality tests, he informed.
He said that, with the approval now granted, preparations for implementing the initiative in the State will commence and it is expected to be implemented soon. Semwal further emphasised that the initiative will be effective for use during the Char Dham Yatra along with the upcoming Kumbh Mela, among others.
Semwal said there are currently 27 water quality test labs in the State. Of these 27 labs, 13 are district level, 13 are sub-division level and one is State level. A total of 130 employees have been deployed in these labs.
Apart from this, the said labs have been working in collaboration with the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST). Semwal said water quality tests are performed in these labs every year. The annual target for water quality test samples in these labs is about 350 per month, resulting in around 1,10,000 samples per year.
He informed that in 2025 a total of 99,778 water quality samples were tested under the Jal Jeevan Mission (Rural). He said samples are tested from Anganwadi centres, schools, sources, households and others. He added that if any test sample fails or an issue arises during water quality testing, the engineers concerned for that particular area are directed to visit the site and identify the cause of failure. After determining the cause, corrective measures are taken.
Semwal further informed that 18 parameter facilities are available for water quality testing. However, out of these, 11 parameters are mandatory for water testing while the rest are optional.
