One important change in contemporary life style of our people is that we have become more health conscious and respond to its requisite information. It has been found by the scientists and environmentalists that many diseases are water borne which can be controlled at the right time. The largest transmitter of waterborne diseases is water which can easily get contaminated and thus become the major source of health problems for the general public. Testing of water is of much importance as keeping it clean. It is good news that the State Government is planning to install one testing laboratory in each district of the State where water supplied through pipes or trucks is subjected to daily test by experts. This is a major attempt of promoting health and inducing people to drink clean water.
Generally, people have installed purifiers that scientifically clean the water and make it drinkable. However, in rural areas poorer people cannot afford water purifier plant on individual level. Therefore it is in fitness of things that the Government takes the responsibility of providing water testing units in each district. But the question is whether one testing unit in one district will be adequate to test the waters in the district and that too on daily basis. There is not one but several water supplying units in districts depending on availability of water and its sources. Daily testing is good but it should be conducted on regular basis. At the same time it also entails remedial measures in case any sample of drinking water fails to pass the test. In that case the supply of water has to be stopped forthwith and alternate arrangement has to be made. We hope the Government will take these questions into consideration and make it a foolproof project because it is of immense importance to public health. We presume that the Centre is also contributing to modernized water supply scheme and the State should derive benefit out of it. For the time being the scheme of five Mobile Water Testing Laboratories and one State level Water Testing Laboratory (WTL) are being established to test the cleanliness and purity of potable water in State. The Government is also working to establish 9 more water testing laboratories at district levels in Kashmir Division in the next phase.