Facility to check bacteriological contamination, turbidity in potable water
Bivek Mathur
JAMMU, May 26: The Jal Shakti Department (JSD) has set into motion the process to establish the first State-level NABL accredited Microbiology Clean Room in Jammu.
The state-of-the-art facility, being set up at the cost of approximately Rs 40 lakh within the premises of the State Water Testing Laboratory, Jal Bhawan, Narwal, Jammu, will check the bacteriological contamination, physical and chemical contaminations, and turbidity in the potable water being supplied to the people under Centrally sponsored Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) Scheme.
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Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in the air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of both water clarity and water quality.
Rajesh Kachroo, Incharge AEE, Office of Chief Engineer, PHE Jammu for Water Testing Laboratories, who is also the Chief Chemist for establishing the Microbiology Clean Room in Jammu, said that there are 45 fully function labs in Jammu province for testing various parameters of water to make it fit for human consumption.
Out of them, he said, as per the guidelines of the Jal Jeevan Mission, Government of India, 10 at the District level and one at the State level have been made NABL accredited already and the remaining labs at the Sub-Division level need to be NABL recognised.
Kachroo said that in the first phase, the Jal Shakti Department has initiated the process to make 8 labs at the Sub-Divisional level NABL recognised.
“Thereafter, in a gradual manner, we will make all the labs at the Sub-Divisional level NABL recognised,” he said.
As far as the establishment of the Microbiology Clean Room is concerned, he said, this facility will be established at the NABL accredited State-lab in Jammu, where samples of water would be tested for bacteriological contamination, physical and chemical contaminations, and turbidity besides various other parameters set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
Elaborating on bacteriological contamination tests, he said these tests confirm the presence of coliform bacteria, Escherichia coli (E. coli), Fecal coliform, among other bacteria and viruses in the water, which make water unfit for human consumption.
“The turbidity test is performed to confirm the presence of metals, anions and cations in water and to test the water quality,” he said.
The JSD official said that after confirmation of contamination and turbidity in the water samples tested from across the Jammu province, these samples would be sent back to the District officers for their intervention to make the water fit for consumption.
Asked which northern State/UT has already established such a facility, he said, “While this facility has been already established by Uttar Pradesh, the UT of Jammu and Kashmir and the State of Haryana are simultaneously working on establishing the Microbiology Clean Rooms with the assistance of each other.”
The State Lab in Jammu has already initiated ICP-OES and in chromatograph instruments for the detection of heavy metals, anions and cations in the drinking water, he said.
On how the infrastructure of the proposed facility will look, he said, “In total, 6 cabins, including inoculation rooms, bio cabinets, exhaust ACs, sample preparation rooms, reagent rooms etc., would be established where the samples of the water would be tested in a controlled environment for the detection of viruses and bacteria.
According to Kachroo, the State lab acts as a referral lab wherein all the contaminated samples from other Districts are being tested for contamination and subsequently suggesting the remedial measures to the concerned divisions.
The proposed cost of the project would be around Rs 40 lakh, he added.
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