Regular water testing on to supply potable water to Punjab villages

Chandigarh, July 8, 2018: Emphasizing the significance of providing clean and potable drinking water to the people the Water Supply and Sanitation Department's Spokesperson has said that the testing of water on quality aspect would be ensured so as to provide this basic amenity to the people of Punjab without any hiccup.
The spokesperson further elaborated that the water supply and sanitation department is sparing no effort to be the most effective tool in making sure that the ‘Mission Tandarust Punjab’ vision of the Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh meets with success on all parameters. The spokesperson also said that as part of the mission and to bring about a qualitative change in the health as well as the living standard of the people, the department is pulling out all stops to regularise the testing of the quality of water regarding which the directions to start the process have been issued.
Divulging about the measures being undertaken by the department, the spokesperson said that the department is running with success the Punjab Rural Water Supply & Sanitation Sector Improvement project with the assistance of the World Bank with estimated cost of Rs. 2200 crore. The purpose of the project is to provide uninterrupted 10 hours water supply throughout each household of Punjab via free connections. Disclosing more, he said that the state government is providing free drinking water connections to the 6.50 lakh household in the rural areas. Till now, 126 villages have seen 24x7 water supply being provided to them while the number of villages receiving 10 hour water supply stands at 2255 and till date 1,13,943 drinking water connections have been installed. Detailing further, the spokesperson said that multi village water supply schemes at the cost of Rs. 540.61 lakh are being implemented to provide clean and safe drinking water to the villages falling under Moga, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Amritsar and Gurdaspur by treating the canal water.
The spokesperson said that in accordance with the above novel initiatives, solar power plant operated 60 rural water supply schemes are being run at Mohali with the aid of the world bank which would reduce the expenditure on power thereby resulting in the saving of power. The spokesperson further said that 5192 water supply schemes are being run by the water supply and sanitation committees of the gram panchayats and the department is providing requisite training to them for the purpose.
The spokesperson also added that in order to save the people of the state from diseases owing to the polluted water, 2 state of the art water testing laboratories have been set up at Mohali & Patiala which have been accorded recognition by the National Board of Accredition of Labs (N.A.B.L.). Apart from this, another laboratory is also being set up at Amritsar for testing of polluted particles and elements.